The Amuru district local government’s substantial multipurpose council hall was utterly speechless when the Uganda prime minister, Ms. Robinah Nabbanja, stood to give her speech for about 14 minutes.
Around 170 people who were local Apaa leaders had gathered as groups for the meeting. The Third Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Rukia Nakadama, and the Local Government Minister, Mr. Raphael Magyezi, welcomed Ms. Robinah Nabbanja before she read a Cabinet decision on Apaa land to the audience.
The speech continued for 14 minutes without any interruption. According to Ms. Nabbanja, the evictions the government plans to carry out in Apaa are comparable to those they carried out in Queen Elizabeth National Game Park and Kyenjojo.
She stated that the Apaa Central market will close in one month and the locals who were occupying the disputed Apaa region would have three months to leave.
Ms. Nabbanja said that the Ministry of Local Government has one month to cease Apaa Central Market’s operations. She added that, On May 15, there will be a forced eviction after they carry out compensation and community relocation for three months.
She said that when the wildlife reserve’s boundaries were surveyed in 2015, the beneficiaries were determined and in 2019, the victims were registered, which is how the cabinet was able to sanction reimbursement of Shs10 million, 20 iron sheets, and 20 bags of cement for each home.
During the speech, before she could finish, Mr. Anthony Akol, the Kilak North MP and head of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, intervened and told her to leave the room because her statements were marginalizing the residents in Apaa.
Anthony Akol said that they will accept the decision if it is new, but they can’t put up with it if it is the old 2019 decision. He added that if the government tries to implement this old decision there, they will detest it and organize those people to resist until they are killed there.
If the government attempts to forcibly remove them from there without providing them with adequate compensation, they will definitely fight back, he added.
Anthony Akol questioned Ms. Nabbanja which is why they begin the eviction right away and there is no need to wait three months. He argued that the decision they have taken is absolutely absurd and goes against their agreement.
He claimed that the delicate Apaa situation cannot be compared to Elgon, Queen Elizabeth, or Kyenjojo. Instead of making such decisions, he asked the authorities to come and kill their people.
Before MP Akol stops talking against the prime minister, Kilak South County MP Gilbert Olanya joined him to charge toward a seemingly helpless Nabbanja, who sat down and merely stared at Mr. Akol while he instructed the locals inside the hall to leave in protest of Nabbanja’s orders and directives.
The commanders of the UPDF 4th division, Brig. Bonny Bamwiseki, and the Atik Battalion, Maj. Caesar OLweny, sprang into action in a two-minute rapid mix to defend Ms. Nabbanja.
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Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Nakadama, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Nobert Mao, Minister of Security Jim Muwhezi, and Minister of Northern Uganda Grace Freedom Kwiyocwiny were also present at the event.
The head of the Amuru District, Mr. Michael Lakony, stated that they were not prepared to support the government’s decision since it did not release the specifics of the findings from the prior committee President Museveni had established.
Mr. Olanya demanded that the decision be meaningless until those who had been earlier arrested by security and held without being charged were released.
He said that they had gone to Arua Prison to check on the people who had been arrested. According to him, 13 of them were dying there. He asked for the release of all these men in prison, including the 25 people held at Upenji Prison in Adjumani. Olanya demanded the release before they could sit and talk about their decision.
In February 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs identified politicians as being the catalyst for the ongoing tribal fighting and killings that have taken place over the disputed Apaa territory between the Madi and Acholi communities residing in the region.
It claimed that the same politicians on both sides had used political scheming to the detriment of the social and cultural institutions that serve as a forum for resolving such disputes.
According to the reports, politicians on both sides of the issue in Apaa have turned against the regional cultural organizations that have always served as a forum for the settlement of land disputes.
Conflicts between the Apaa and Zoke tribes have persisted despite their discovery that Apaa is currently protected by the UPDF and the presence of police stations in five Apaa and Zoka detachments.
According to the suggestion from the Joint Security Agencies, the government should immediately take into account engaging and constraining the politicians responsible for the riots, as well as relocating the residents of Apaa.
However, all of these have resulted in bloodshed, the destruction of homes and other household items, and the arrest and illegal imprisonment of individuals thought to be disobedient.
