The Assistant Resident District Commissioner Nwoya district DJ Ochii has exclusively confirmed to theGrapevine that police has summoned controversial Ukrainian investor Maxim Shevchuk to record a statement on allegation of using illegal and forceful means to grab land that belongs to the estate of Lt. Col. Wilson Erinayo Oryema the first black Inspector General of Police.
“Yes, it is true he was summoned because local people including the family of the late Oryema have filed a number of complaints accusing him of acting with impunity against them. He destroyed their crops using armed men and for us as security we want to know who authorized him to harass our people. Even President Museveni whom I represent in Nwoya stopped illegal eviction which the investor wants to do,” Ochii said.
He confirmed that over the weekend, he went together with the district security committee to Purongo, Kilak County where the contested land is located to verify and examine the allegations placed on the Ukrainian investor and he establish that they are true.
He further revealed that their preliminary investigations show that the investor hired the land from a one Beatrice Oryema one of the relatives of the deceased.
However, they advised Beatrice Oryema to return the money to the investor until court pronounces itself on the ownership of the land because the matter is still before the court.
He insists that the only way they can allow the investor and Beatrice to use the land is after presenting to them an eviction order authorized by the Minister of Lands Judith Nabakooba on the recommendation of the area security committee chaired by the RDC as directed by President Museveni recently.
He confirmed that the attacks are done at night when people are asleep and the investor is using government tractors given to Nwoya district to plough people’s land.
Nancy Oryema, a granddaughter to the deceased also told theGrapevine that the life of her workers on the farm is in danger because they are receiving threats that they are going to be kidnapped or killed, and even though they have filed a number of complaints to police, they haven’t yet received any help.
She narrated that her farm manager told him on Monday morning that the investor and Beatrice had deployed two policemen in the names of Corporal Onagi and PC Onenchan to protect their people as ploughing of their crops goes on.
Nancy added that her manager and workers recently survived being killed in a bloody fight between the armed men and tourists police commandos deployed to protect the grave of the first IGP who was murdered during President Idi Amin’s regime.
“ President Museveni is the one who ordered the deployment of those skilled policemen after realizing that the remains of my grandfather are under threat from land grabbers who want to exhume his remains and hide them somewhere so as to prove that they are the owners of the land,” Nancy said.
theGrapevine has further obtained testimonies from locals who accuse security personnel, top politicians and government officials from Acholi of shielding the investor who hoodwinked locals that he was sent to their land by President Museveni to grow food which will be transported to Ukraine to feed people who are suffering as a result of the Russian war.
The Ukranian and his cohorts are trying to force the locals to leave the land arguing that they will not defeat the investor who has government backup.
Nancy said that over 50 acres of soya beans, g-nuts and maize were destroyed by the investor.
Nancy also accuses the leaders of exhibiting double standards.
She explains that when they talk to the media, they show that they are with people but at night, they help the investor to destroy their food which Ochii insists will never happen again in his presence.
She narrates how they have been arresting her workers on the farm but it is suprising that they have failed to arrest Beatrice, the investor and their henchmen.
The contested land is on LRV 778, Folio 23 land at Purongo, Kilak County, Acholi, currently Nwoya district.
Nancy insists that the actions of the investor have instilled fear among the locals and investors from the United Kingdom who are currently engaged in farming under Gen. Saleh’s wealth creation projects.
Early this year, the Gulu Resident judge Phillip Odoki dismissed a court case filed by the beneficiaries of the late Oryema against Lt. Gen. Otema and others on technicality.
Since then, Beatrice Oryema, a beneficiary has been accused by other family members of helping the land grabbers steal the deceased’s estate, and she has been threatening to evict other beneficiaries even though Nancy led them to appeal against Odoki’s judgment.
Nancy has also petitioned the current Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abass Byakagaba to intervene and save the situation as they pursue justice in court.
“I am compelled to bring to your attention a grave situation that demands immediate action from the Uganda Police Force, an institution that has consistently upheld the rule of law and maintained order in our nation under your esteemed leadership and as I write I have been informed that my female farm manager has been hit by one of the armed private guards from PSG private security in Gulu,” she said in the petition to the IGP.
theGrapevine made several phone calls to the investor’s known phone number for a comment but our endless calls went unanswered.
By Sengooba Alirabaki