Court sets date for hearing of Kamwenge land case

High Court in Fort Portal has set April 9 as the new date for hearing of a case involving a long-standing land dispute between the government and residents of Rwamwanja, Kibale East, Kamwenge District who were forcefully evicted from the land.
The conflict over the estimated 40-square-miles Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement Camp in Nkoma Sub-county has raged on for more than a decade with the residents claiming ownership of the land.
Government in April 2012 settled Congolese refugees at the disputed Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement land even after court slapped two caveats stopping any further settlement on it until the matter is resolved by the High Court and Parliament.
“The government, because it has the power and the coercive machinery of the state at its disposal issued a ministerial order of eviction against its citizens who have a claim over the same land. We find as did the Judge that such an order was irrational, unfair and offended all the rules of natural justice” the May 21, 2018 Court of Appeal ruling read in part.
The High Court in Kampala on April 2, 2012, halted the eviction of more than 30,000 people who had allegedly encroached on the land.
Court then presided over by Justice Elidad Mwangusya issued an order prohibiting the Attorney General (AG) and then Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Dr Stephen Mallinga, from evicting “or in any way interfering” with the land until the main suit was heard and determined.
This was after a successful application by settlers Matsiko, Bikangaga and others who sued the Attorney General and the minister in March 2012.
The applicants were prompted by a threat to evict the occupants by the then Disaster minister in March 2012 due to mounting pressure to settle refugees from DR Congo who had camped in Kisoro and more spilling in daily in hundreds fleeing civil strife.
The main suit was scheduled for hearing on June 4, 2012 but hardly had this taken place than the first batch of more than 500 of the 5,000 refugees were brought to Rwamwanja.
The camp was previously occupied by refugees fleeing the 1994 Rwanda genocide but since several of them returned home, the residents, who claim to own the land, have re-occupied it.
The land was given to government for resettling people fleeing civil war in the 1960s by Sir George Kamurasi Rukidi III, the then Omukama of Tooro.
However, the kingdom has since claimed back the land and in 2009, the Kamwenge District executive committee resolved to resist any attempts by government to reclaim the refugee camp.
According to the then district chairman, Mr Robert Kamasaka, there were more than 1,700 households in Rwamwanja with a population of 130,000 people. The residents were overpowered by government and evicted despite some of them holding land titles.
Government since then settled more than 50,000 Congolese refugees who inherited gardens of Ugandans in the fertile Rwamwanja land that is rich in maize growing and are doing brisk business. In November 2017, the claimants led by their lawyer, Mr Arthur Murangira, filed a fresh case against the Attorney General, Uganda Land Commission and the Commission for Land Registration as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively over alleged illegal eviction from their land.
The applicants argue that they were illegally evicted from their land without compensation or being reinstated. Last week, High Court in Fort Portal presided over by Justice Wilson Masalu Musene set April 9 as the date for hearing the case.
The applicants are being represented by lawyer Arthur Murangira and the Attorney General is represented by Mr Isaac Singura.
Court adjourned to April 9 because Uganda Land Commission and Commission for Land Registration were not represented last week.