As pastoralists, the Banyankole of Uganda are accustomed to moving with their herds, going where water and pastures can be found in adequate measure. But with the increasingly rigid lines drawn by property owners and new development pressures in Uganda, their forays have taken on the character of a search for land to settle and call their own, and their wanderings have met stiff resistance from some settled communities.
Groups of Banyankole and Banyarwanda herdsmen are now temporarily settled in Iteso, in the Apujan wetlands to the east of Lake Kyoga, but local opposition to their presence will likely force them to continue their search in other parts of Uganda. National Political Commissar Dr. Crispus Kiyonga last week announced that the pastoralists would be allowed to stay in the area for six months, after which they would have to pick up and move on. In the meantime, the herders will be allowed to graze their cattle in the area. It was not clear where the Banyankole were expected to go, but Kiyonga promised that the government would work with them to find a suitable home in another part of Uganda after the deadline passes.
The Banyankole and Banyarwanda arrived in Iteso last December. Initially relations between the newcomers and the local Teso people were friendly: the latter would buy the herders’ milk and hire oxen to plough their fields. The cattle were free to roam the extensive wetlands.
But tensions soon developed – Teso stopped hiring the Bahima’s oxen and leaders of the local communities called for their immediate eviction. The pastoralists trace the hostility to a recent round of local council elections, citing speeches by candidates politicizing the issue of their settlements, despite congenial relations with the broad majority of their Teso neighbors. The pastoralists were accused of felling trees without consent, burning charcoal fires, and polluting local waterways. Teso leaders issued an ultimatum to the newcomers, demanding they leave by June 28. Teso representatives met with government officials in Kampala last week for tense talks that eventually produced the Commissar’s compromise.
The traditional homeland of the Banyankole is in southwestern Uganda. Their kingdom, Nkole, disintegrated long ago under a variety of pressures: raids by neighbors from Rwanda, the breakdown of internal social distinctions and the advent of colonial government to name but a few. In the recent decades of Uganda’s war-fraught history Banyankole were among many people who became dispossessed.
When asked why they came to Teso in the first place, the herders replied that they had wanted to stay in Bunyoro, where they had lived comfortably for several years. But they could not match offers made by a group of Indian investors for the land allocated to them. The new owners charged exorbitant fees for grazing cattle on the lands, and those who couldn’t pay were forced to search for new pastures.
A number of Banyankole had lived in Teso before insecurity and fighting between rebels and government forces forced them out in the mid-1980s. They had lived peaceably, working as porters and getting along famously with the locals. Some of their Teso neighbors noted that there have been Banyankole in the area for as long as they can remember; some of the herdsmen claim that their parents had even bought land in the region. Because of these prior associations, the Banyankole decided that Teso was their most promising option. Upon arriving they sought to purchase land but were told none was for sale.
Fearing rejection from other communities when they move on, many Banyankole expressed their sense of complete dependence on the government – one spokesman even went so far as to suggest suicide might be their only option if no help is forthcoming. One former Teso district chairman sees no reason why differences with the newcomers can’t be resolved: "I see Teso as Uganda and I regret that some of our bishops have also rejected the Banyankole. Why should leaders segregate against citizens?"
Observers of the situation throughout the country have criticized the Teso leaders’ militant attitudes and calls for vigilante action against the pastoralists. It seems for the time being that the government action has averted a crisis, but the Banyankole’s plight raises questions regarding the future of nomadic pastoralism that will only become more urgent as Uganda’s economy and pressures on limited resources grow.
