Ugandan Activist Returns Home After Being Illegally Detained 80 Days for Land Seizure Action

When Elizabeth Nakiwolo returned home on Wednesday after being illegally detained for 80 days, her friends and three young children were not the only ones welcoming her back.

Subsistence farmers from the nearby village of Kiganzi also came when they heard of her release, bringing her a small piglet, a chicken, tomatoes, avocado, and matoke. The gifts were their thanks for her attempts to help them assert their right to continue living and farming on 45 acres of land that an outside interest claimed it now owned. Nakiwolo, along with six other activists, had traveled to the village with lawyers in early June to advise the 37 affected families about their rights under Ugandan law.

For their trouble, the seven activists were arrested. Three individuals, lawyers advising the group, were immediately released. The other four activists, including Nakiwolo and Michael Setikoleko, co-founder of the Uganda Catholic Worker, were subsequently illegally held in off-the-books detention facilities. The village was razed, with armed military posted to guard its perimeter.

The piglet, chicken, and other gifts were “a sign of solidarity,” said Michael Setikoleko, who was among the seven activists arrested when police met him at his rented room on June 9. “Of course, it being a village and people are also poor; that is what they can afford to give to her as a way of thanking her and welcoming her back into community.”

Nakiwolo was one of the first individuals who were welcomed and assisted by the Uganda Catholic Worker shortly after its founding in 2011. Although she left the community a few years later, she has remained in touch with Setikoleko and supportive of his activities, which is how she got involved in the intervention.

None of the detained activists were ever formally charged or received a court hearing.

In Uganda, it is illegal to hold someone in detention without charging them with a crime or providing a court hearing. The Ugandan Constitution mandates that a suspect must be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours of arrest. However, there have been numerous documented cases of arbitrary detentions and torture, particularly involving government critics, opposition supporters, and peaceful protesters, according to a 2021 Human Rights Watch report. These detentions often occur in unsanctioned places, sometimes referred to as “safehouses” because they were originally supposed to be used for witness protection.

According to a U.S. State Department report on human rights in Uganda, “significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agencies; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions,” among others.

Setikoleko, Nakiwolo and the other detained activists were transferred to new detention facilities frequently, making them harder to track down. Setikoleko reported being held in unsanitary conditions and tortured during his 28-day detention. His jailers eventually gave him his phone so he could contact relatives to help him pay a “fine” that would allow his release. (See our previous coverage.)

After his release, Setikoleko spent several weeks recovering in a hospital and at his parents’ home. Once he was strong enough, he returned to Kiganzi on August 1 to attempt to document the aftermath of the land seizure and begin tracking down his detained colleagues—starting with Nakiwolo and her three children.

Scenes of Destruction and Despair

Kiganzi is a small settlement not far from Kiboga. It is home to the 30-member Kiganzi Farmers Association, according to the Uganda Farmers Guide website; its members mainly grow matoke (a starchy banana) and coffee.

When he arrived in Kiganzi, Setikoleko encountered scenes of destruction and despair.

“The evident destruction was very clear,” Sekitoleko said via WhatsApp. “Houses and structures, cattle corrals, pig (enclosures), and chicken pens all on the ground. Food and gardens slashed down to the ground.”

Many of the families had left the area; a few individuals had been arrested for resisting their displacement; and some had died by suicide or other heart conditions that Setikoleko presumes are related to stress.

“I got to talk to a few that were still present and trying to make it through this very bitter transition,” he said. “Many of them were crying and wailing in tears, very, very bitter tears…. 

“They have no houses, they have no homes, they have no gardens, they don’t have any money so that they can try to raise a living and make a life out of it,” he continued. “And what complicates the situation is that all these people who are homeless right now because of the land grab, they are faced with the reality that from this month of August up to December it’s our rainy season…. People are afraid to talk and mention anything. They’re homeless, they’re desperate, they’re hopeless, they’re in fear.”

The lawyers who had been helping the activists inform the villagers of their rights have “gone quiet,” Setikoleko said, leading him to assume they were either threatened or bribed.

The children of the displaced families are now “officially dropouts,” their education interrupted. Setikoleko fears the adolescent girls are likely to wind up in underage marriages, an unlawful but not uncommon practice that he has campaigned against in the past.

After interviewing the villagers, Setikoleko attempted to surreptitiously photograph the destruction. Although part of the 45-acre property was guarded by military personnel, other sections of the property did not appear to be monitored. Setikoleko attempted to take photos and videos in that location but was immediately arrested by plainclothes officers and returned to the same detention facility he had been held at in June and early July.

Officials held him there for three days, wiping his phone before returning it to him and releasing him with a warning.

After his release on August 5, Sekitoleko continued his search for Nakiwolo, who had been detained in an unknown location. “I searched for her for three and a half days,” Sekitoleko said. “I was able to locate her…in the district of Nakasongola, but it was really far from where we are here in Kiboga.”

While in detention, Nakiwolo had developed multiple health issues, including a severe urinary tract infection, brucellosis, and abdominal ulcers, Sekitoleko reported. At one point, she received pain killers and antibiotics, but otherwise was not given medical care.

Once he had located her, he shuttled back and forth between Nakasongola and Kiboga, a three-hour trip, attempting to raise the 2 million Ugandan shilling “fine” (about $600) demanded for her release. At the same time, he was also trying to track down her three children. He eventually located them in the care of an elderly neighbor, and he brought them food, clothing, and other necessities.

The $600 fine was paid out of the Roundtable newsletter budget, and Nakiwolo was released on August 28.

A Lot to Deal With

Although Nakiwolo is now recovering at home, she faces numerous challenges as she attempts to rebuild her life. She is still very sick, Sekitoleko said; the police did not return her mobile phone; and her landlord has initiated the process of evicting her due to three months’ unpaid rent totaling 300,000 Ugandan shillings (about $80). Moreover, her children missed their end-of-term exams, which may be enough to disqualify them from continuing in school.

“She’s struggling on almost every front,” Sekitoleko said. “She still has a lot to deal with.”

Nakiwolo’s psychological and emotional well-being also remains a concern. “We are trying, everybody is trying to help her readjust to normality,” Sekitoleko said​.

As for the farmers of Kiganzi? “There has not been any other further effort to try and save these people.”

This isn’t the first time Sekitoleko has been arrested for intervening on behalf of subsistence farmers fighting land seizures. He was previously detained for six weeks in 2017 for bringing pro bono lawyers to educate peasants about their rights under Ugandan law.

Illegal land seizures are common in Uganda, often driven by powerful individuals exploiting vulnerable communities. The lack of legal protection and rampant corruption enables these unlawful practices, leaving many families displaced and without recourse. The issue has been the focus of international NGOs such as GRAIN and the Slow Food Foundation and studies by Cambridge University and Friends of the Earth International. Land grabbing not only displaces subsistence farmers and indigenous people, but worsens the effects of climate change, according to the Pulitzer Center. Despite a 2013 presidential statement officially condemning the practice, the problem persists.

You can read more about the history of the Uganda Catholic Worker here.

If you would like to contribute to Elizabeth’s rent and medical expenses, you can do so at this GoFundMe page.

This article was corrected on September 1. The original story incorrectly stated that Nakiwolo was one of the three co-founders of the Uganda Catholic Worker. In fact, she was not; instead, she was among the first guests at the Uganda Catholic Worker, and stayed with the community for some time before leaving and marrying. (In the Uganda Catholic Worker, guests are referred to as members of the community and as “Catholic Workers.” Additionally, a photo was removed that incorrectly identified another individual as Nakiwolo. Finally, the original article stated that all seven activists were illegally detained. The corrected article reflects that the three lawyers among the seven were arrested and released; the remaining four activists were illegally detained.

Cover photo: Nakiwolo and her children after her release. Photo: Michael Setikoleko.