A resident with a machete guards his land at Ntungamo-Mirama Hills road site after Zhongemi company workers fled. PHOTO BY PEREZ RUMANZI
Ntungamo. Residents of Ruhaama and Rwengoma parishes in Ntungamo District forced workers of Zhongmei Construction Company off the Ntungamo-Mirama Hills road site alleging lack of compensation for their property.
On Tuesday morning, residents found Zhongmei tractors clearing their gardens and razing houses to pave way for the road works.
Some locals armed with machetes and spears charged at the workers who fled abandoning their equipment. Nobody was hurt.
Last week, the Ruhaama LC3 chairperson, Mr Tom Rwomushana, was arrested and charged with inciting the residents to resist access to their land without compensation. Five others were charged with similar offences.
Mr Laban Bwengye, a resident, who had been employed to handle public relations at the temporary UNRA complaints office in Ruhaama Town, resigned following the move to evict the locals.
“I do not believe I should be party to those who make my fellow residents suffer. What we had agreed and what I have been telling people is that they will first be compensated before their property is razed, before their land is obtained for use,” Mr Bwengye said.
In March this year, more than 200 residents blocked company workers from proceeding with works, saying apart from not being compensated, their property was undervalued. Last month, the locals protested again. The Zongmei site engineer, Mr Jack Chen, then said the company should not to be blamed for the delayed compensation or stopped from construction as they had been told that the affected people had been compensated. The Uganda National Roads Authority resident engineer, Mr Moses Ardol, earlier blamed the incident on poor communication. “We have been meeting residents before works on a road section start but in this case, there was a gap in communicating to the people on how they will be compensated,” Mr Ardol said.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
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