Bukaleba Residents Face Eviction Anxiety Amid Confusion Over 500-Hectare Directive

Families living within the Bukaleba Central Forest Reserve in Mayuge District are currently facing intense anxiety as confusion mounts over a reported presidential directive to allocate 500 hectares of land to local communities. Residents from areas including Nakalanga A and B, Namugongo, and Walumbe say they are completely in the dark about whether the promised land was ever surveyed, who qualifies for the allocation, or if an eviction is imminent.

For many elderly residents, the threat of displacement is devastating. Seventy-year-old Moses Ngobi and eighty-year-old Mercy Naigaga voiced grave concerns that decades of investment and settled life in the area could be uprooted, leaving them with nowhere to go.

Local leaders note that the community is deeply unsettled. Some residents have invested heavily in agriculture using funds from the Parish Development Model (PDM), raising fears that sudden evictions would cause massive financial losses. Other community members hold documents they believe are connected to the presidential directive and are urgently asking authorities to verify them.

Local council officials have appealed for calm while pushing for high-level intervention to prevent the land dispute from escalating. Meanwhile, Mayuge Resident District Commissioner Ramathan Walugembe has promised to look into the matter.

Addressing the ongoing uncertainty, Issa Katwesige, the Assistant Commissioner for Forestry at the Ministry of Water and Environment, stated that the issue is currently before Parliament and that authorities are awaiting a formal decision.

For more details on this story, read the original report on Daily Monitor.