Candidate Yoweri Museveni this week concluded his barnstorms of Acholi, confident that he will poll higher than the 58.491 percent average mustered across the sub-region’s eight districts during the 2021 presidential poll. Two broad issues have in recent times come to capture the imagination of the sub-region’s constituents. Firstly, there are the related issues of the depletion of natural forest cover and degradation of gazetted river catchment areas in east Acholi districts.
Experts say such human activities are central to both issues. If it is not the increased demand for charcoal as a major source of energy, then it is the extraction of sand and gravel that leaves behind open spaces with borrow pits. In the districts of Kitgum, Lamwo and Agago, key rivers, including Pager, Aswa, Aringa and Orom, have not been spared by the devastation.
The major rivers include Pager (running from the hilly areas of Mt Moroto and Orom mountain rangers and Aringa (running mainly from the hilly areas of Agoro hills), among other small streams. These form the bigger Aswa Catchment Management Area that is managed under the Ministry of Water and Environment’s Upper Nile Water Management Zone programme.
According to the Kitgum District’s Development Plan 2021-2025 document, natural resources have been degraded over time. ‘It is common that people are cultivating inside the river banks and penetrating wetland areas during the dry season to cultivate rice and vegetables. As a result, most parts of these major rivers are now getting silted,’ the document states in part.
For the case of mountains/hills, cultivation of crops in the foothills is a common phenomenon as is the extraction of gravel for construction activities. Kitgum boasts a combined 30,704 hectares of forests gazetted as central forest reserves under the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Only 16 hectares of local forest reserves are managed by the district.
‘We have five local forest reserves, all of which are unfortunately located within rapidly developing sub-counties. One of the reserves is in one of the divisions within Kitgum municipality, and the division headquarters and a market are sitting inside the reserve,’ Mr Martin Anywar, the Kitgum District forest officer, said in an interview. Authorities decided to allocate Labongo-Layamu Local Forest Reserve in Labongo-Layamo Sub-county to developers on the assumption that it was an empty and vacant land. Elsewhere, Matidi local forest reserve in Kitgum-Matidi Sub-county is 100 percent encroached, Mr Anywar disclosed.
‘In 1986, our tree cover was 20.7, but in 2002, the forest cover came down to 13. Then, in 2021, it increased a little by, I think, 0.2 or 0.3; there was a little bit of increase in that forest cover. But when you look at agriculture, which was around 0.2 percent of our land cover in 1986,’ Mr Anywar noted.
Lost in the woods
In Amuru District, the NFA has continued to struggle amid stiff resistance from communities to restore, protect and preserve forest cover. As a result of the continued human activities, over 1,000 acres of forest reserve land in Keyo, Wii-Ceri and Labala have been lost with about 60 percent of tree cover depleted, majorly due to settlement, agriculture and commercial charcoal burning and logging, it is established.
Several attempts to open boundaries of reserve lands in the district have been futile, with the majority of community members violently rejecting the process.
Mr Michael Lakony, the Amuru District chairman, however, blames the continued encroachment into forest reserves and the rapid depletion of tree cover from the forest reserves in the district on the ‘inactive’ presence of NFA on the ground. He is not the only critical voice. Ms Paska Kerren Alanyo, Amuru District forest officer, says: ‘When I came here three years ago, I went to that reserve and I failed to trace it because there was no single tree; instead, some buildings, crop plantations sat on it. It is 100 percent lost.’
Ms Alanyo says their efforts to reclaim the reserves from encroachers are continually curtailed by underfunding, which makes their operations ineffective.
As a result, commercial charcoal dealers have destroyed all the tree cover in the villages of Coro, Aker, Luro, Apaa, which was a resettlement camp, Goro B, Kalacut, Acut, Zoka, and Kamdini, among others, in Amuru. Commercial charcoal production in Acholi Sub-region has nearly doubled after the issuance of the Presidential (Executive) Order in May 2023.
New strides
Currently, central forest reserves manned by NFA occupy up to 1,265,741 hectares, constituting 64 percent of Uganda’s permanent forest estate (PFE), with the rest of the estate being managed by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). ‘With the fourth highest population growth rate globally of 3.3 percent, there is a high demand for agricultural land, construction materials (timber, poles, sand, etc), and energy sources (firewood and charcoal), the refugee population (estimated at 1.8 million in 2025) adds to the population pressure, a challenge to safeguarding the forest estate,’ NFA states in its 2025-30 corporate strategic plan.
To restore depleted forest cover in the Acholi Sub-region, NFA has invested in the generation of tree nurseries aimed at regenerating critical indigenous and commercial species. These include Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa), Tectona grandis (Teak), Mvule (Milicia excelsa), and Warburgia ugandensis, a rare medicinal tree.
These nurseries are expected to supply seedlings for forest restoration, community planting, and enrichment of degraded forest reserves, according to Mr Aldon Walukamba, NFA’s communications and public relations manager.
Despite the present efforts, Mr Walukamba says the severity of encroachment on central forest reserves manned by NFA remains a challenge in the Acholi Sub-region, where vast areas have been targeted for farming, settlement and charcoal burning. ‘NFA has stepped up efforts to protect and restore central forest reserves in Acholi and Lango sub-regions, with notable progress in several central forest reserves. These interventions are part of a broader strategy to safeguard Uganda’s forests against rising threats of encroachment, illegal charcoal production, and unsustainable land use practices,’ he told Saturday Monitor.
NFA, in collaboration with other government agencies, has enforced the Presidential Directive on charcoal, targeting large-scale illegal commercial production that has devastated Shea tree populations in northern Uganda, he added.
Balaalo issue
Away from forest encroachment, the Acholi Sub-region has found itself grappling with the issue of the Balaalo herdsmen. Their battles with Lamwo landowners are well documented. The battles moved to court this year, with High Court judge Justice George Okello dismissing the herdsmen’s claims on account of them not having any property rights.
It all started on November 11, 2021 when Simon Timbigamba, Petero Bashaijja, John Bosco Kamanzi, Moses Gakumba, George William Katozi, Emmanuel Tayebwa, and others sought legal redress. They sued Palabek chiefdom, Palabek Kal Town, Palabek Gem, Palabek Kal, Palabek Ogili, Palabek Nyimur, Palabek Abera Sub-county and ten others for illegally evicting them from the land on which they kept their cattle. According to the court, while the herdsmen claimed, in their suit, to have rented and purchased land through formal arrangements with several persons within Lamwo District for pastoralism.
They further claimed that the accused held meetings and resolved to irregularly evict them from the land irregularly. The herdsmen also expressed contempt for being called ‘Balaalo’ a term they deemed defamatory. To understand the weight of the standoff, you have to go back to October 25, 2021. Back then, the Palabek Chiefdom summoned a meeting. The meeting involved all lower local governments, including lawmakers. Up for discussion were concerns over the intrusion of large numbers of herdsmen in Palabek County.
The intrusion, according to the chiefdom, was an undesirable trend that could not be left to persist unchecked and unregulated. The meeting is said to have discussed how the herdsmen manipulated vulnerable and unaware locals to ‘fraudulently obtain’ documents. According to a memo authored by Palabek chiefdom, presented as evidence before the court, since they were alleged to have caused marital issues in households by using their money to entice locals’ wives and young girls, the leaders during the meeting ordered the herdsmen and their cattle to vacate the area.
‘No new inflow of cattle into Palabek by the Balalo shall be allowed forthwith; all clans must ensure they take effective control over their customary lands to avoid individuals grabbing and disposing them off; persons who are said to have sold off or leased customary lands or any other land in Palabek are asked to devise ways of remedying and or redeeming the transaction otherwise such transaction is considered null and void,’ the memo reads in part.
In his judgment, Justice Okello averred that while Mr Timbigamba, one of the applicants, hired 300 acres of land from Mr Oryem Lodoviko Atoya in 2020, he did not suffer any deprivation of property by the respondents’ acts but mere contract rights given his status as a mere tenant. ‘The 300 acres appear to have remained the property of Atoro Obori Shirinus’ family with the right to deal in purely regulated by the customary law of the area, which Mr Oryem Lodoviko Atoya, the head of the family, ought to follow in case of any dealings.’
Whereas Mr John Bosco Kamanzi told the court that he rented 1,280 acres of land for five years from Mr Jimmy Odoko-pira and family for Shs11m, the court ruled that he did not acquire any property right or interest in the 1,280 acres of land but a mere contractual right which the accused was right to reject. Mr Museveni has found himself sucked into the dicey issue. In Executive Order 3, issued on May 19, Mr Museveni banned all Balaalo from northern Uganda, labelling them as undisciplined. His ruling NRM party has found itself having to stress that position, mindful that it is one of the hot button issues heading into the 2026 poll.