Danson Byaguma together with business partner and former Hima Cement Employee, Ambrose Byiona are said to have used the exploration license to buy land from the residents, claiming that the company has rights on the land.
The Land Probe has grilled Danson Byaguma, the
Managing Director of Optima Mines Consultancy Limited on allegations of
coercing residents of Mwello Parish in Mulanda Sub County in Tororo district to
sell their land to Hima Cement Ltd.
The contested land has marble deposits. Hima
Cement Ltd has applied for a transfer of the land, which is communally owned. Some of the land owners petitioned the Justice
Catherine Bamugemereire Land Commission accusing Hima Cement Ltd of threatening
to evict them from their land unless they accept compensation and leave.
They claimed that Hima took more than one hundred residents to an unknown place in Mbale where they kept them
for a day and offered them between Shillings 900,000 and 2.5 million for an
acre of land. Hima Cement secured a mineral exploration license but went ahead
to coerce residents to accept compensation and leave.
Danson Byaguma together with business partner
and former Hima Cement Employee, Ambrose Byiona are said to have used the
exploration license to buy land from the residents, claiming that the company
has rights on the land.
While appearing before the Commission this week, the former Commissioner of Geological Survey and Mines,
Edward Kato, said the exploration license was only limited to quantification of
the available minerals and mapping the area.
It didn’t include acquiring land. The Commission tasked Byaguma to explain under
what mandate they acquired land. He explained that he was contracted by Hima to
acquire surface rights. When asked to present an agreement he entered with
Hima, he said they had an oral agreement.
He however, said there was an affidavit sworn
by the lawyers of Hima lawyers indicating that the company had instructed
Optima mines to acquire land on its behalf. The Commission lead counsel,
Ebert Byenkya dismissed his argument, saying Hima didn’t have rights to acquire
land and therefore Byaguma couldn’t work on their behalf.
Cue in: “An affidavit to…”
Cue out: “…an unlawful act”
Byaguma denied coercing residents into selling
their land, saying they only dealt with 14 residents who agreed to sell their
land at Shillings 9 million per acre hence acquiring 30 acres of land.
He told the Commission that they agreed with
the vendors on a willing buyer willing seller basis. Byaguma explained that
they took the vendors to Mbale to pay them through Bank of Africa.
Commissioner Mary Ochan Oduka asked Byaguma why he had to
take residents to Mbale to make the payment. Byaguma said it was for safety
reasons because they didn’t want to give large sums of money to the residents
in cash.
He later contradicted himself when he said that he
transferred money to their accounts and some picked all their money immediately.
Ochan wondered how secure the residents were when they moved with millions of Shillings
from Mbale to Mwello in Tororo.
//Cue in: “So the poor…”
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“…Is the community”//
Byaguma acquired land under a lease arrangement for 21 years.
However, six of the fourteen residents accused Byaguma of misrepresentation.
They sued him and the company for lying to them that they were they were
leasing their land for 21 days.
However, it was later changed to 21 years in
the agreement. It is alleged that Byaguma was able to dupe residents since many
were illiterate and didn’t have any legal representation.
Residents were able to realize the fraud when
an association containing elites under Mwello Land Protection Association
engaged them after learning of the activities of Hima Cement and its agents in
the area.
However, Byaguma insists that the residents
were fully aware of what they were signing as communication between the buyer
and seller was aided by a translator, Peter Othieno.
//Cue in: “There was a…”
Cue out: “…land to us”//
However, Justice Bamugemereire
dismissed the argument, saying if residents knew the transaction was effective
they wouldn’t come up in large numbers to challenge Byaguma.
//Cue in: “Very fresh graduate…”
Cue out: “…this kind of business”//
According to the Lands Act, land under Customary ownership
can only be leased out when the land owner acquires a certificate of Customary
Ownership. Byaguma didn’t secure a certificate of customary ownership from any
of the residents.
He instead applied for a lease from Tororo
District Land Board. The Commission Lead Counsel Ebert Byenkya says by
applying for a lease from the district land board gives the impression that the
land is not owned by any residents.
This therefore means that after the 21-year
lease has expired, the land is retained by the land board as the owner leaving
the residents out. The commission has summoned the managing director of
Hima Cement Managing Director to explain their role in the matters.
