Sitting on 25,000 acres (about 10 hectares) of land, a big battle over land use has finally been won.
After making futile attempts for years to add thousands of hectares of public land to her around Pachilo parish in Amuru District, Somali born businesswoman, Amina Hirse Moghe has been aided by Operation Wealth Creation chief coordinator General Caleb Akandwanaho, (better known by his alias Salim Saleh) to agree with local leaders and the would be out-growers.
Gen Saleh, a brother of President Museveni, is a veteran of the war against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion led by Joseph Kony and is much liked by people in Northern Uganda.
The Atiak Sugar plantation is located in an expansive Savannah grassland punctuated with abundant fresh water from Unyama River and other streams in Pachilo parish, Atiak Sub County, some 60 Kilometers from Gulu Town.
But the multimillion dollar sugar project had stalled while local leaders in the region insisted having sugarcane on their land is outrageous and will only make the people poorer. They also accused government of brokering the project on behalf of Amina Hersi’s Horyal Investment Company Holdings Limited, setting in motion stiff resistance from residents. Many locals protested the move of Horyal taking over 15,000 acres of land for the sugar venture saying it was their farmland and their source of livelihood. After area leaders convinced locals that the move would help in development of the area including provision of jobs, some were not convinced, leading to burning of 16 acres of sugarcane by unidentified locals who were opposed to the move earlier this year. The company estimated the loss resulting from the arson at Shs150m.
Over the weekend, it took the intervention of Gen. Salim Saleh who camped in Amuru for three days to diffuse the tensions.
The OWC boss’ camp said he has been camping in Amuru District to look closely into among others, the issues that had been affecting the sugarcane plantation project on an invitation from local leaders led by Mr Norbert Mao after they had visited him in Kapeeka recently.
“I’m delighted see the works moving on smoothly after the local leaders and politicians put aside their differences and political intrigue to rally the community to overcome their fears and open up their fields to the project,” Gen Saleh said.
“We discussed ways to avoid and mitigate future conflict around land issues taking into account customary rights in minimizing displacements if at all the need arises, and possible assistance for when there arises unavoidable relocations due to support infrastructures like roads, inputs and support to be given by OWC and so forth.”
“I’m now confident that our concerted effort from Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Ministry of Works , Solicitor General’s Office, Dr. Amina and ofcourse OWC will enable this transformational project to fully materialize in the near future without much ado.”
“It is meant to be a model project of sorts which we are hoping to replicate in others areas of Uganda.”
Somali tycoon Amina Hersi Moghe is considered one of the wealthiest women in Uganda with interests in real estate and agriculture. She is the owner of Oasis Mall that is popularly known as Nakumatt and Laburnam Courts, an upscale apartment complex in Nakasero.
According to a 2016 World Bank Uganda Poverty Reduction Assessment Report, agriculture accounts for 79 percent of poverty reduction in the country.
The report found that 84 percent of the country’s poorest people live in North and Eastern regions. However, Peace in Northern Uganda has improved the efficiency of markets, allowing farmers to take advantage of stable and favourable prices to increase crop income.
