"Buvuma palm oil project: 5,000 reject compensation for land"

About 5,000 residents in the Island district of Buvuma have rejected a government proposal to compensate them for their land to pave way for oil palm growing, claiming their property was undervalued. This comes after government unveiled a programme for the relocation and resettlement of the affected people late last year...“The project coordinators and valuers cheated us, they undervalued our property and they did not compensate us for the bibanja,” Mr Ssengooba said during a recent consultative meeting at Nkuusi Village in Busamizi.“I had five-and-a-half acres, but l was given Shs8.4 million as compensation for the property, including plantations and a house. They did not value my kibanja and now I cannot vacate my land unless I am [fully] compensated,” he added...

Ms Connie Masaba, the VODP project coordinator, said although the project is meant to create jobs, “some [residents] are bent on failing it”. Ms Masaba said so far, they have spent more than Shs50 billion on compensation and more than 8,000 hectares of land have been secured from 5,000 people. “All those people [5,000] have already received their money and we appeal to them to vacate the land for the project to start. We plan to set up a nursery for oil palm trees by the end of February,” she said. Ms Masaba said part of the land will be used by Oil Palm Uganda Ltd and the rest for out growers.The company is a subsidiary of Bidco Uganda which already manages oil palm plantations on Bugala Islands in Kalangala District.