As part of the Uganda, government’s radical move of promoting foreign direct investment in the country, it Uganda entered negotiations with the German Neumann Kaffe Gruppe (NKG) in 2001 to establish a large coffee plantation.
The government availed 11 sq miles of land in Madudu Sub-county of Mubende District. After the ground survey, Government ordered all the 401 families who were occupying the surveyed land to quit it not later than 15/08/2001.
From 17th - 22nd August, 2001 the Government deployed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to forcefully evict the 2041 people to create a space for NKG, locally registered as Kaweeri Coffee Plantation Limited (KCPL).
The eviction was abrupt, brutal and without compensation. People were whipped and kicked, their houses either demolished or set on fire and their property was either looted or destroyed.
The people were then reduced to squatters in the areas neighboring the plantation! Some of the people who could not find hosts or acquire land fled the area altogether.
A significant number were forced to work on the coffee plantation as a means of survival up to present.
The people of Madudu supported by ActionAid opened a case in Court in August 2002 protesting forced eviction without compensation for lost land and destroyed property by government of Uganda and Kaweeri Coffee Plantation Limited (KCPL).
Five years down the road, the case is yet to solved.
So far two hearings have taken place and the dae for final hearing is awaited.
Justus Rugambwa/April 16 2008