Twelve white farmers evicted from their farms in Zimbabwe have inspected land in different parts of the country with a view to re-locating to Uganda, the executive director of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Magie Kigozi, has said. About 11 million hectares have been seized from the white owners by President Robert Mugabe’s government since 2000. "They came here in three groups. We arranged and showed them UIA land and that of other Ugandans. They found the land good but had no source of funding, having lost their money in Zimbabwe," Kigozi said.
| No doubt the UN has a special fund to help in this sort of case, since they were robbed by a corrupt government... |
She said the farmers could not immediately obtain 100 percent financing from the local banks. She said the farmers were early this year shown big chunks of land in Hoima, Mubende, Nakasongola and Pallisa districts. Kigozi said UIA has a databank of all land in the country for investment. "It was not possible to move on because they didn’t have the money ready," said Kigozi. The chairman of the Uganda Manufacturers’ Association, William Kalema, said the farmers expressed interest in commercial farming. Health state minister and Soroti municipality MP Mike Mukula invited the farmers to Teso. President Yoweri Museveni has proposed a constitutional amendment under which the government can compulsorily acquire land for private investors. Article 237 of the Constitution says the government or a local government can only acquire land in public interest for government projects.
| Make the resettlement a government project, then. Having them there will redound to the benefit of Uganda... |
There were unconfirmed reports that many of the former Zimbabwean farmers have resettled in Uganda while others have moved to Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. Zimbabwe’s white-run Commercial Farmers’ Union earlier this month claimed that evictions of the few remaining white farmers were continuing. |