Rukiga, Uganda – A section of farmers in Rukiga District are up in arms with Ceylex Engineering Pvt Ltd after the electricity company reportedly cut down their crops without compensation to establish power transmission lines.
Ceylex Engineering Pvt Ltd was contracted to extend high-voltage electricity from Mirama Hills in Ntungamo District to Rubanda District, where the government plans to establish a substation to support industrialization, especially the largely anticipated iron ore processing plant. The company started constructing power transmission towers along Ntungamo-Kabale-Kisoro road last year.
However, the project has faced resistance in Rukiga District as locals protest the destruction of their property reportedly without consent and compensation.
The affected individuals are from Nyamabare cell, Nyamabare ward in Muhanga Town Council, where the farmers accuse Ceylex Engineering Pvt Ltd of cutting down their banana plantations.
The farmers, led by Ntare Ester Ntindiwegi and Byaruhanga Francis, hurled curses at the company for reportedly invading their gardens to cut down crops at night when everyone was asleep, as they constructed the transmission towers.
They also accuse the company management of deciding the price of land compensation with Rukiga District leaders without any consultation from the affected landowners. The complainants told this media house that a plot of land on the roadside valued at Shs. 200M was devalued to 12m in the compensation arrangements.
According to the locals, it is on this note that they disagreed with Ceylex Engineering Pvt Ltd, whose management went ahead to force its way into people’s gardens.
The affected people have called upon President Yoweri Museveni’s intervention, saying that the leaders at the district have not helped them.
Other concerned locals, including Benjamin Kyidokori and Militon Jack Turyahabwe, faulted the company for using force to cut down people’s crops. They further called for fair pricing of land while compensating people whose land is located along the road.
Justina Ruyombya, the chairperson of Nyabale cell, said that she wasn’t involved in the compensation process in her area and therefore couldn’t tell what was happening between the locals and the electricity company.
We tried reaching the Rukiga Deputy RDC Zaddok Kamusiime for a comment after the locals reported that they had tabled their complaints to his office, but he said he was preoccupied in a meeting before he switched off the phone, promising to return the call in vain.
Meanwhile, in a phone interview, the Manager of Ceylex Engineering Pvt Ltd, Julius Musinguzi, confirmed that “a few banana plants were cleared” as the company constructed power transmission towers through Muhanga Town Council but denied refusal to compensate the affected locals. He said they had paid “some money” to the complainants and they were going to clear the remaining in the following days.
