Kyengera, Uganda | URN | There was tension and anguish in Masanda Village, Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso District, on Monday as Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) bulldozers demolished structures built on its railway reserve in an operation aimed at reclaiming the land for railway development.
Excavators and backhoe loaders moved along a dusty road cutting through maize fields, pulling down structures within the railway corridor as residents watched helplessly and scrambled to salvage their belongings.
A heavy security deployment backed the operation, with anti-riot police, Uganda Railways Police officers and other Uganda Police Force personnel positioned at strategic points along the corridor to prevent resistance to the demolitions.
Uganda Railways Corporation spokesperson John Lenonn Ssengendo said the exercise would continue from Kyengera through Mityana to Kasese, targeting all those still occupying railway land along the western line. He said the government had given residents several years to vacate the railway reserve to pave the way for railway rehabilitation and expansion projects, including the planned Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) western route from Kampala to Kasese.
“…For the last four years, we have been telling people to vacate the railway land to allow us to carry out certain projects. For example, the government is going to construct the Standard Gauge Railway western route from Kampala to Kasese, which is supposed to take the same direction. With the encroachment, we will not be able to progress.” Ssengendo said.
URC was also planning to evict people who had encroached on railway land along the Busoga line, including those using the reserve for farming, to pave the way for the restoration of the railway network. He added that similar operations would be conducted on other railway corridors across the country, warning that people whose structures had been demolished would not receive compensation because they had settled on railway land.
The demolitions left several residents facing uncertainty over where to relocate, with some appealing to President Yoweri Museveni to intervene and provide relief to affected families. Among them was Juliet Nabuguzi, a mother of five whose house was demolished during the operation.
Other affected residents, some of whom said they had lived in the area for more than 20 years, appealed to the government to grant them at least two years to find alternative accommodation.
They also expressed frustration over what they described as a reversal of a compensation arrangement they said had been promised in 2022, when they received eviction notices. The residents said they had waited for the promised compensation, only to face demolition without receiving it.
Uganda Railways Corporation says the evictions are intended to restore access to railway land, enabling the rehabilitation and expansion of the country’s railway network to provide safer and more reliable transport. The corporation has directed all encroachers to vacate the 60-metre-wide railway reserve.
Other corridors earmarked for similar operations include Tororo-Gulu, Gulu-Pakwach, the Busoga Loop, Butiaba and Masindi Port, as well as other Uganda Railways Corporation land across the country.
By press time, Masanda Village remained a hive of activity as boda bodas ferried salvaged property away from the affected areas, leaving behind stretches of cleared railway reserve that had been dotted with homes and small businesses for years.
Some residents loaded mattresses, saucepans and clothes onto motorcycles, while others carried bundles of belongings on their heads as they searched for alternative shelter.
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