By Tolit Ivan
President Yoweri Museveni has appointed a committee of 10 lawyers to audit claims by migrant cattle keepers, commonly known as Balaalo, of legitimate land transactions and ownership in northern Uganda.
The appointment of the committee comes shortly after President Museveni on Wednesday issued a second directive in a month for the eviction of migrant cattle keepers, from northern Uganda, beginning on June 25, 2025.
Last week the migrant cattle keepers appealed to the government to consider carrying out thorough verification before enforcing the forceful eviction.
They say the eviction order is blanket and it will affect many cattle keepers who complied with an earlier directive issued in 2023.
The second eviction order is also aimed at allowing the audit on cattle keepers claiming they legitimately bought land, have fenced their farms’ sanctuary, have permanent water sources and have not blocked access to the permanent water sources, and therefore cannot be evicted.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday from the UPDF Fourth Division barracks in Gulu City, Major General Felix Busizoori, the UPDF Fourth Division Infantry Commander, says the team will commence their work after all the migrant cattle keepers have been evicted from northern Uganda.
According to Maj Gen. Busizoori, the first phase one of the eviction, which has already began, involves sensitizing the masses, the landowners, the local leaders on the ground, and the community of cattle keepers, and appealing to them to leave voluntarily.
After a week of sensitisation, deliberate eviction is expected to start on the 25th of June 2025 and take 65 days.
Geoffrey Osborn Oceng, the RDC of Amuru District, called upon politicians to desist from inciting the population, stressing that the eviction exercise is “a matter of governance.”
The balaalo, mainly from western Uganda, began settling in the north over the last decade in search of grazing land.
On May 19th, President Yoweri Museveni met with security leaders in northern Uganda and made the first eviction order of 2025, after the Executive Order Number 3 of 2023 was halted in December 2023, due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in more than 30 districts across the country.
