By Wadada Rogers
For a while now, there has been a silent feud over a portion of land in Bulambuli District involving a company called Amore Investments, local leaders, land brokers, Ministry of Energy, Prime Minister’s office, the Attorney General and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development over a huge portion of land measuring about 18,000 hectares.
The land in question has a turbulent history with different parties claiming ownership including those with freehold titles vides Block 4 Plots 248, 249, 250 and 170 in Bulambuli District, those claiming an unregistered customary interest and Amore Investments which claims a leasehold interest vide Plot 100 overlaps the chunk that the government has ear marked for acquisition.
Trouble over ownership of this land began when a foreign investor allegedly identified a portion of this land for a solar project and wrote to the respective government departments to engage the owners for a possible deal. That is when hell broke loose attracting the usual mafias who believe they must have a share in every shilling that is released by government for whatever reason.
Just before the deal could be sealed, calamity befell the people of Bulambuli and Sironko who were affected by landslides necessitating their resettlement in places that were relatively dry and safe. Somebody suggested to the powers that be to consider acquiring the aforementioned portions of land despite the numerous disputes on the ground and in the courts of law.
By the time the indigenous owners woke up, a certain well connected law firm working for Amore Investments Ltd sought a cancellation of all the freehold titles on allegations of overlapping Plot 100. With one of the Partners of that law firm heading one of the government bodies pushing for the acquisition, the titles were cancelled without giving the owners a chance to be heard.
Since then, several government officials have visited the land with a view of securing some useful information on how to acquire the land but the customary owners who previously owned the freehold titles have stood their grounds saying any acquisition should only happen after adequate compensation. Frustrated, the chief broker of the dubious deal who happens to be an elderly state Minister has taken the fight a notch higher to frustrate the local beneficiaries.
By Letter allegedly written by NEMA’s Executive Director to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development dated 26th August 2025 responding to a letter referenced as LAD287/430/01, an opinion was made on the suitability of the now disputed land for the solar project and the resettlement of persons affected by landslides in Bulambuli and Sironko Districts.
It was alleged that a team of NEMA personnel inspected and mapped the now disputed land assessing its nature as to whether it is a wetland or not. In a report that has been kept confidential, NEMA purported that about 7,771.2 hectares is a wetland, and only 479.1 hectares is dry; and Accordingly, NEMA recommended that resettlement of the landslides affected persons be on the 479.1 hectares identified as dry land. This is obviously a lie that cannot go unchallenged.
Clearly, one can tell from the so called findings that NEMA did a desktop report without verifying the facts on the ground. Could it be that the entity has allowed itself to fight personal wars and to help the mafia network frustrate the two projects from happening so that they can have an upper hand in inflating the numbers of beneficiaries and to determine how much to pay?
In that letter, it is apparent that NEMA acknowledges that until its arbitrary decision, the land was not a wetland, and neither had the same ever been gazetted as such. The land had since time immemorial been occupied with homesteads, gardens, grazing land among other socio-economic activities until the emergency of insecurity caused by Karimajong cattle-rustlers.
Those who live in Bulambuli or have visited the District know it for a fact that the area receives a lot of surface runoff after heavy rains. This water often gets stagnant in a few areas given the flat terrain of the land but quickly dries up or finds its way into the many rivers before being channeled to Awoja River in Teso sub region.
Common sense dictates that the vegetation on the land is predominantly akin to savannah grassland and not typical wetland/swamp vegetation say, papyrus and the like. This argument therefore leaves NEMA findings naked and questionable. Wetlands are not just imagined but only exist according to certain feature including moving or stagnant water and aquatic life.
It is embarrassing that two government departments can make a report in respect of the same land but come out with different conclusions. By a survey report dated 28th November 2024 issued by the Department of Surveys and Mapping in respect of the Plot 100 which is said to engulf Plots 170.248.240 & 250, it was reported that the land was habitable and ideal for human settlement.
Now that Amore Investments has a land title but without land on the ground, the government has found it difficult to transact with them more so after the President picked intelligence reports that the land belongs to the indigenous community who are ready and willing to sell to government at the right price. Mafias however believe they need a lion’s share of that money and would rather create all sorts of excuses to frustrate the entire project if they are not at the forefront.
They have even made attempts to arm-twist government to consider paying money direct to the affected persons but have again received resistance from a section of leaders at the Ministry of Housing more so after it was discovered that the number of affected persons had more than tripled to include ghost beneficiaries in both Bulambuli and Sironko Districts.
It appears somebody has already done their math so well to the extent that paying cash will enable them pay less to the beneficiaries as opposed to the amount budgeted for each family. Besides, there is risk that once these landslide affected persons are paid cash, they may return to the landslide prone areas after a short while or refuse to relocate altogether. That could explain why somebody has engaged NEMA to create chaos so that government reconsiders its plan.
While NEMA’s role is to promote sustainable development by ensuring environmental protection and management, if its enforcement powers or decisions are now perceived as biased or weaponized against individuals or businesses, it can appear to be engaging in “personal wars” or “personal battles if at all the impugned letter being the subject of this writing is authentic.
It is only fair that NEMA comes out to clarify and clear its name on this contentious subject lest we shall be left with no option but to conclude that they have abandoned their core mandate, have been hijacked by mafias and are being used as a tool for oppression rather than its intended environmental protection mandate.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. wadroger@yahoo.ca
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