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CONFLICT WATCH Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity (ACCS) August Issue # 5 “LAND AND INVESTMENT” Balancing Local and Investor Interest Compiled by Otim Denis Barnabas, Ina Jahn and Emily Cody The August 2012 issue on Conflict Watch represents and provides the Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity (ACCS) – Refugee Law Project (RLP) contextual analysis on resource based conflict; this includes the dynamics of land grabbing and investment in post conflict environment, and community perception regarding the issuance of Certificates of Customary Land Titles. This issue emphasizes the importance of good governance of natural resources, in land issues and the need to balance divergent interests and positions in order to avoid resource related disputes. ACCS makes concerted effort towards flagging conflict causes, triggers, actors as well as early warnings. Key titles in the issue include 1. Politics as Usual: Investment, Land Grabs and Disputes in Nwoya District 2. Will Customary Land Titles reduce increasing Land Grabs and Disputes in Acholi Sub – Region? Politics as Usual: Investment, Land Grabs, and Disputes in Nwoya District. “Most of the population in Purongo Sub County, Nwoya district do not approve of Amida land grab, but a few acknowledge that proper acquisition of land would present an opportunity for host communities if it makes durable contribution to their development”, Says an elder in Purongo sub-county. University Makerere School of Law, REFUGEE LAW PROJECT “A Centre for Justice and Forced Migrants” “A Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org 1 “LAND AND INVESTMENT” Balancing Local and Investor Interest INTRODUCTION majority of the population has been subjected On the 6th August 2012, the Refugee to protracted periods of displacement during the Law Project (RLP) under the auspices of the LRA insurgency, contemporary land conflicts are Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity strongly attributed to weak land governance in (ACCS) and with the local government leaders the context of return. As a result, many have been of Nwoya district , visited the area of Got denied access to land causing food insecurity, Apwoyo village in Latoro, Purongo Sub County, as well as decreasing employment and income to assess the magnitude of a brewing land generation opportunities. dispute playing out between Amida Investment Company and the locals of Got Akpwoyo village. The visit was followed by a community dialogue that was attended by 58 residents of Purongo Sub County, out of which 17 were women. Sign Post belonging to Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Husbandry – referring to Got Apwoyo field station Further, the Government of Uganda increasingly relies on a policy of decentralization which has manifested itself in the accelerating speed in which new districts are formed. With Leaders of Nwoya District and locals of Purongo Sub County decentralization, the influence of local authorities attending a dialogue meeting on the 6th August 2012 (local councilors and district councilors) on land The land dispute in question has and resource governance has increased. At the brought private investors, local government same time, the steady creation of new districts and central government officials together in has resulted in a weakening capacity for proper an effort to deprive the indigenous or local/ administration of law and rules and regulations rightful owners of the Got Apwoyo land. The with regard to land administration in particular. contextual drivers for such land grabbing This of course further opens up possibilities for in Uganda and Northern Uganda vary and influential businessmen and government officials are dependent on the speculative values to influence local decision processes regarding attached to land and oil related discoveries the distribution of land. A case in point has been and investment opportunities in the region. the new districts of Amuru (formed in 2006 by an In post-conflict Northern Uganda, where a Act of Parliament) and Nwoya (which formerly Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org 2 “LAND AND INVESTMENT” Balancing Local and Investor Interest belonged to Amuru but was formed as a district in the context of a speculative purchase of land in its own right in July 2010), both of which have without taking into consideration the adverse experienced a great number of land disputes impact on the community. This is the current since their creation. situation in Got Apwoyo village, where the Amida Land Disputes and the Investment Question Investment Company has acquired 3000 hectares of land for agricultural investment, locally; the Overall, there has been a strong residents of Got Apwoyo have neither been causative relationship between acquisition of consulted nor given their consent to the selling land for investment purposes and increasing of their land. Taking into account the invaluable land dispute in entire northern Uganda. The importance of land to livelihoods, the situation most recent dispute is the land conflict between holds great potential for conflict and presents a Amida Investment Company and the locals of hindrance to the post-conflict recovery process. Got Apwoyo village, in Purongo Sub County - Nwoya district. To many locals, acquiring large GENESIS OF LAND DISPUTES IN NWOYA chunks of land in unregulated manner for DISTRICT investment purpose is seen as a form of land Growing demand for acquisition of large grabbing. “How did Lapenga (one of the Directors chunks of land and the speed at which land of AMIDA investment company) obtain land in grabbing has developed in Nwoya district since Acholi? Who allocated land to Lapenga? Will 2004 has sparked concern and debate amongst Lapenga stay or live? Was Lapenga provided development partners, the local communities with a working document?” said an Acholi elder and their leaders. To some observers, the glaring during a community dialogue. land disputes in day to day Nwoya district are the consequence of poor land governance and resource management. However, others believe that the disintegration of Nwoya County from Amuru district to form Nwoya District in 2010 marked the start of aggressive illegal sales of land and violent land disputes as administrative structures weakened. Compared with previous occurrences before the LRA conflict and the consequential displacement of a majority of the local population In the picture is the main entry gate into Amida Ranch located to “protected villages” (1996-2006), the current in Got Apwoyo,Purongo Sub County, Nwoya District. phenomenon of land grabbing in Nwoya district, Land grabbing can take place in a wide variety of Purongo Sub County, Latoro Parish takes place circumstances, yet it always involves the taking on a far graver scale, in some cases as stated over of land without the consent of the local by the locals, involving land parcels of more inhabitants. One also speaks of land grabbing than 3000 hectares for a single individual. All Funded by www.refugeelawproject.org 3 “LAND AND INVESTMENT” Balancing Local and Investor Interest this indicates that the acquisition of land involves never informed, not consulted and not asked substantial problems. These problems are political, to participate when private investors show economical, social and developmental, creating interest in their land. loggerheads between the residents of Nwoya “The issue of land is killing our people in various ways, district, the Government, and investors. if an investor needs land, why can’t they consult the Through extensive community consultation, people?”, says a male resdidence of Got Apwoyo it was established that most of the land transactions During the dialogue, and as touched on above, in Latoro Parish are characterized by a worrying the community expressed that some district lack of transparency. This has made it difficult to officials were directly involved in the land obtain or assess the exact scale and magnitude of transactions to Amida Investment Company, land that has been legally and illegally “sold” off. The and have already benefitted from the disputed quantified number of the sold land to individuals and land dealing whilst undermining the rightful companies ranges from 50 to 3000 hectares. Yet, owners of the land in question. Well functioning these numbers do not represent the full extent of local governments should be accountable and the current problem of land grabbing in Latoro, Got protect the rights of the citizenry, but this has not Apwoyo village, as many cases are not accurately always been the case with the administration documented. Despite the lack of concrete firgures, of Nwoya district. The major causes of land it is nevertheless clear that land insecurity and land dispute have been described as follows: grabbing has remarkably grown in Nwoya District in • The principle driving force of land the past 5 years. grabbing in some parts of Nwoya District is The Land Dispute: Amida Investment Company the imbalance between population settlement and the Locals of Got Apwoyo and vast unutilized land. The other motivation The conflict drivers which have resulted in the is financial: land as an asset has value with current land dispute between the Amida Investment great investment potential. As a local woman Company and the locals stem from a variety of remarked, “idle customary land and unoccupied causes. Above all, it is the inadequate level of land are being subjected to land grabbing” transparency in the transaction of the disputed • Weak implementation of land laws. The land totaling 3000