President Yoweri Museveni has halted the eviction of more than 500 people Center in Nakaseke district by the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).
The residents from Kisimula parish in Kapeeka Sub County petitioned President Museveni protesting the move by UPDF to annex their land to expand the Peace Support Operations Training Centre, formerly known as Singo Military Training School.
The affected residents are found in the villages of Kyererezi, Bugaabo, Kasiiga 1 and 2, Kawuku and Namasangere among others.
Recently, the Minister of Defense Crispus Kiyonga ordered the Kapeeka Sub County authorities to verify the tenants and landlords on one square mile piece of land in Kisimula parish for compensation and eviction to expand the training centre. The residents, however, threatened to strip naked in protest and on Monday they petitioned the president who was at Kapeeka trading center.
Florence Nalwoga from Kyererezi village told Museveni that she has lived on the land for over forty years and invested on it through erecting permanent structures and farming. Nalwoga says that it is difficult to leave the land and look for an alternative place.
The Kisimula parish chairman Muhamadi Ssemwezi told the president that they were not interested in any sort of compensation but to retain their land because they have buried their relatives who died in the 1981-1986 NRM war in the area.
Chrysostom Kanunde, another resident asked President Museveni to relocate the centre to another area instead of displacing them.
Ignatius Koomu, Nakaseke district chairperson, told Museveni that the residents were living under fear which has affected their level of productivity in agriculture and asked him to halt the eviction.
In response, Museveni said that due to the cries of the residents who are also his fellow fighters, he has suspended the eviction and ordered Minister Crispus Kiyonga to investigate and compensate all people who have been affected by the centres’ operations.
Museveni also ordered the residents to proceed with their farming activities.
The president, however, snubbed residents’ demands to relocate the military facility and said they should withstand loud explosions from the centre if they are not willing to vacate the land.
The UPDF Peace Support Operations Training Center is a base where soldiers who are deployed in Somalia are trained.
