By Tolit Ivan
President Yoweri Museveni has on Wednesday issued another executive order number 2 of June, 2025 to evict migrant cattle keepers from northern Uganda and other areas in the country
The order is in line with the executive order number 3 which was issued in May 2023 ordering the eviction of the migrant cattle keepers from the region.
The latest executive order number was issued by the President through the UPDF Fourth Division Infantry Commander, Major General Felix Busizoori.
According to Major General Busizoori, the executive Order number 2 of June, 2025, was issued after the president realized that it was technically impossible to have a peaceful, mutually beneficial and conflict-free movement of unregulated cattle movement into these areas because of four key factors including unfenced grazing areas and lack of permanent water sources in the farms.
Others are the intra-community lack of consensus on the land tenure system among the indigenous communities of the area, leading to conflict and even murders.
The blocking of the traditional access to the permanent water and fisheries sources something which he says is criminal and very unfair to the locals.
Busizoori says the eviction exercise is expected to take 65 days starting today with the sensitization of the cattle keepers to voluntarily leave within a period of one week and failure to comply, forceful eviction will commence on June, 25th, 2025 starting with the indiscipline cattle keepers and those in government land.
Earlier on Monday, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) assured the Acholi Paramount Chief Rwot Onen David Acana II of the eviction of migrant balaalo herdsmen in the region, according to a statement from Ker Kwaro Acholi, the Acholi cultural Institution.
In May, the president issued a 14 days’ ultimatum which expired on June 5th, to the migrant herdsmen to leave the region or faced forceful eviction but the eviction failed to come into operation up to date.
Data from the Office of the Prime Minister indicates that more than 700 herdsmen are currently grazing over 92,000 head of cattle in the Acholi Sub-region.
In May 2023, President Museveni issued Executive Order No3 directing the eviction of any migrant cattle keeper from northern Uganda who won’t comply with requirements for operating a cattle farm.
Attempts to evict Balaalo herdsmen out of Northern Uganda started in 2018 on the orders of President Museveni but it’s yet to be fully implemented.
