Buganda MPs contest “Balaalo” infiltration on land in the Central region cattle corridor
The MPs said they have reports of “balaalo” who were chased from Acholi and greater North and are slowly finding their way to the areas in Central region.
MPs from Buganda parliamentary caucus have sounded an alarm over reports that the cattle keepers (balaalo) who were evicted from Northern Uganda, have begun to infiltrate the cattle corridors in the Central region.
Through their chairperson of the caucus Hon. Muwanga Kivumbi from Butambala county, the MPs said they have reports of “balaalo” who were chased from Acholi and greater North that are now slowly finding their way to the areas in Central region.
Muwanga Kivumbi said, “Balaalo especially they target districts of Kayunga, Ntenjeru and the greater cattle corridor. We are following this development consciously, deliberately and we will even undertake a tour of the suspected route of the cattle exodus and try to establish the truth of that matter,”
Muwanga made the remarks during a press briefing at parliament where he noted that although the Central region made it simple for everyone to settle, the region is currently facing enormous pressures on its land.
This according to him is characterized by a dense population, huge land conflicts and evictions, and such challenges can’t be further compounded by welcoming the “balaalo”
“The people who are nomads must know that nomadism had its time and that time is past, it is a primitive behavior, their cattle isn’t the owner of all the grass in this land, that they will walk up to Alaska looking for green pasture, so we ask them to go where they came from,” said Muwanga.
Muwanga added that they always welcome people who come and settle in the central region and make a positive impact, “but we can only take so much, the land here isn’t elastic, our hospitality can’t be abused to an extent, therefore, we will keep track of this issue, and rally our people,”
Last year president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni issued a directive ordering Balaalo to vacate northern Uganda.
As the year ended in November 2023, Ms. Jane Frances Abodo, the Director of Public Prosecutions, directed all prosecutors in the eviction implementation areas to maximally support the exercise.
“This is to bring this to your attention and direct you to render the necessary support to the RDCs as they implement the presidential directive, the grace period for this directive expires on November 25,” she wrote.
According to Ms. Abodo, the Minister for the Presidency, Ms. Milly Babalanda, directed all the RDCs in the affected districts to ensure that the directive is implemented without any excuse.
By December 16th 2023, a total of 4,691 cattle herds belonging to Balaalo (cattle keepers) have been impounded from Acholi Sub-region since the start of the implementation of the Presidential Directive Order Number 3.
The President in his executive order directed that all Balalo herdsmen in Northern Uganda, who have not fenced off their land and provided all the necessary things for running a cattle farm, should be evicted with immediate effect, starting from November 24, 2023.
