KAMPALA, UGANDA –– President Yoweri Museveni has taken decisive action to address escalating concerns over unregulated cattle movements by the Balaalo into Northern, Eastern, and North-Western Uganda.
This directive, Executive Order No. 2 of 2025, follows a similar order issued in 2023 (Executive Order No. 3), but responds to growing tensions, crop destruction, land conflicts, and environmental disruption caused by uncontrolled livestock migration.
The President’s order highlights four critical challenges fueling these conflicts: unfenced grazing areas, the absence of permanent water sources, contested communal land ownership, and the obstruction of traditional access routes to natural water bodies like the River Nile.
Emphasizing patriotism, Pan-Africanism, and social equity, President Museveni reaffirmed that while the free movement of goods, services, and labor is encouraged, rural-to-rural migration that spreads primitive agricultural practices and causes unrest must be regulated.
To restore harmony and protect local communities, the Executive Order directs the Attorney General to criminalize the practice of free-ranging cattle in these affected regions.
Furthermore, it mandates the removal of all Balaalo cattle from these areas, pending verification of lawful land acquisition by the cattle keepers and their compliance with key land use standards.
