FEATURE: HOW ROAD, SANITATION PROJECTS REVIVED THE KALI LAND CONFLICT

The road that has been opened in the contested land by Obongi Local government. PHOTO BY ROBERT ELEMA

By Robert Elema

Yumbe/Obongi

For years, residents of Kali village along the disputed border between Yumbe and Obongi districts lived side by side, sharing water sources, markets, and social ties despite lingering questions over administrative boundaries. Today, however, the atmosphere is tense.

What should have been a celebration of development; the opening of community access roads and the construction of VIP latrines has instead reignited a long-standing land conflict, drawing local leaders, residents, and government officials into renewed disagreement over who owns the land where the projects are being implemented.

As excavators’ clear paths through the bush and construction workers lay foundations for improved sanitation facilities, a familiar dispute has resurfaced, threatening both community cohesion and service delivery.

A conflict rekindled

Residents say the conflict had remained largely dormant for several years. Although disagreements over the exact boundary between Yumbe and Obongi persisted, communities had found ways to coexist peacefully but that changed when development projects arrived.

The conflict created a lot of insecurity for the community living in that place for about one week prompting the District Security Committee to organize a security meeting to handle the matter.

Mr Hashaka Mpimbaza the Obongi RDC said, the insecurity began due to a road project opened by Obongi District.

He said, the road which is about 7km was opened from Kali up to River Kochi with bush clearing already done but what is remaining is shaping and grading.

“The opening of the road created insecurity in the sense that the two districts are claiming ownership of the land where the road project is being undertaken. As the two security committees of Yumbe and Obongi, we decided to call security meeting to sort out this problem,” he said.

He said, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. During 2024 census, a similar incident happened in this disputed area.

“We can’t as security committee decide whether this land belongs to Yumbe or Obongi. When there is a conflict between two districts, it’s the ministry of lands that sorts out the matter by doing a demarcation,” he said.

“There is a lot of confusion in this place. The suggestion is, we maintain the status quo and we all put our efforts together, request the ministry of lands quickly to come and sort out this problem because enough is enough, this confusion must not continue,” he added.

The security committee had a suggestion that the road project should continue because it benefits everybody because there is no proper community access road in the area but the idea has been rejected by the leaders from Yumbe side.

Mr Samadu Aguku the Yumbe district speaker who represented the district chairperson at the meeting said one of the issues of contention between Yumbe and Obongi is the opening of the road.

He said, its not right to say Obongi should continue grading this road because Yumbe may think they have lost their independence and if they say, Yumbe should take over, it becomes a problem.

“Now that the local government act has given us mandate, you give us an opportunity as District Executive Committee (DEC) members of the two districts to sit and accept whether the road should continue or we suspend it. We are saying this is because the funding of this road project is not clear,” he said.

“It is stated that the fuel for opening the road came from the MP Obongi County. Two toilets have been dug here now and the security team is not aware who owns the land so, we are saying the works that are ongoing must be suspended with immediate effect,” he added.

The constitution says, two individuals can’t own the same piece of land but we have realised that there already projects ongoing.

He said, the LCs within the disputed area from the side of Yumbe have been threatened that their stamps shall be collected saying, its not a good move and that the leaders from Obongi should be restrained from that bad act.

Community living in fear

Mr Ibrahim Atiku Dalilu, a resident of the area said, the matter started during Census and UPDF soldiers were brought here by the leaders of Obongi and they wanted to count us forcefully but they rejected.

“When it came to the opening of the road, UPDF and Police officers were again brought here to scare us. These people came with full force to start the work,” he said.

“We were told by Fungaroo that, if someone begins to talk against the work he is doing, all of us shall be chased away from here. We have lived for long in this area so, we are worried that anytime they will chase,” he added.

Mr Sunday Bran another resident Ombechi West village said, he is the landlord of the area where the two pit latrines have been dug. “These people came with security personnel but without consultation, they started digging the pits. The main of these people is not to promote sanitation but to reclaim the area,” he said.

Mr Bran said, he has satyed in this area for over 30 years and that they don’t want interference from Obongi Local government.

Calls for lasting solutions

Leaders from both districts have appealed for calm and urged residents to avoid violence.

Many are calling upon the central government, survey authorities, and the Ministry of Lands to conduct a comprehensive boundary verification exercise and establish a permanent solution.

Mr Khemis Abibu Buga the Obongi district Chairperson says, they had viewed that the projects would benefit the local community but the long-existed border dispute has frustrated their efforts in implementing the project.

He said, people want them to write to the ministry about this but it will help them.

“Writing to ministry of lands will not help us. I have written more than four times including my counterpart chairperson of Yumbe district but up to now, there is no feedback,” he said.

“My suggestion is that, a team that comprises the RDCs, MPs, LC 5 chairpersons, CAOs of the two districts must go personally to meet those officials in the ministries of local government, lands including the prime minister with immediate effect if we want to succeed,” he added.

Call for peace and security

Hajji Sulaiman Lubwama Bukya, the Yumbe RDC said, the issue that has happened isn’t a big one urging the residents in the area to be calm.

“We have come here not to solve that border dispute but rather the insecurity concerns that is that is threatening the lives of the people emanating from the contested area. We want people here to co-exist and live peaceful,” he said.

“We got an information that there was a meeting here organized by one of the leaders and people in this area were told to vacate the area. We don’t want to see any leader or community member in sending away people away from this place,” he added.

The community members, leaders and security personnel arrive for the security meeting at the contested land.

Mr Siraji Mutalwa, the DISO Yumbe said, the constitution of Uganda is very clear stating that, ownership of land is legal.

He said, a person can own land legally anywhere in Uganda as long as the process of acquiring that land is well established and defined.

“The boundary of the district doesn’t define the ownership of land. This road is a public good and when you are working on it, you need to follow the law because there are individuals here,” he said.

The leaders here didn’t guide the government well before. Why do you occupy the same space? Why should you have two registers in the same village? Who are the people in the register?  Government is wasting resources on the same people because people in this disputed area benefits twice in government programs which is duplication of work,” Mr Mutalwa stressed.

During the security meeting that took place last week, Mr Hassan Kaps Fungaroo the MP for Obongi constituency was not given opportunity to talk but how ever when Radio Pacis contacted him later, he said people already know the truth about the land in question but they instead want to project falsehoods.

He said, that area called Kali is deeply inside Obongi and the road they have opened is inside Obongi and that there is no border of Yumbe across River Kochi.

“People want to run away from using the right methods. There are maps of Uganda and the districts including historical backgrounds of the districts in West Nile that can clearly define the borders of the districts,” he said.

“There were Aringa people who came to Obongi long time ago, they were welcomed and given land under right of use and they know the facts. They are not happy about what’s happening now but they have decided to create villages with new names here,” Mr Fungaroo stressed.

This is the second time that when the people of Yumbe come for a meeting, they get charged and they don’t want me to speak.

He noted that the community access road that has brought problems was opened by Itula subcounty local government and that he only came in assist them with fuel because the subcounty doesn’t have enough resources to undertake the project.

“What’s true and is personal is the opening of Pit latrines which is to help our Kapalanga and Miricha clans because we have members of those clans there doing farming in that place,” he said.

“We can’t chase people who have settled there. We have surveyed where we are going to dig without chasing any single person and it’s no true that we want to evict people from that land,” he added.

Concerning the issue of stamps, Fungaroo said, with the help of the local government, they are going to collect all the stamps from Yumbe side saying the stamps are the instruments of fraud in the area.

The security committee however resolved that the ongoing projects work be suspended for two weeks and that a team from the two districts should go and meet the concerned ministries over the matter and that they will come back with a report for the community.