Affirmative action on land rights: A just solution for the Ik of Kaabong

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OPINION

By Oscord Mark Otile

With a population of about 15,241, the Ik are among Uganda’s smallest and most historically marginalised indigenous communities.

Living in Timu, Morungole and Kamion Sub-counties in Kaabong District on the edge of Kidepo Valley National Park, the survival of the Ik has long depended on land and forest resources.

Their survival was disrupted in the 1960s when their ancestral territory was gazetted into what is now Kidepo Valley National Park.

Displaced from their traditional hunting and gathering grounds, the Ik were pushed deep into the steep mountainous escarpments unsuitable for agriculture, settlement, or infrastructure development.

Subsequent insecurity and cross-border raids further deepened their vulnerability. Decades later, the structural consequences of that displacement remain unresolved.

In Timu Sub-County for example, large portions of land are designated as a forest reserve. The Ik largely occupy rocky highlands, while relatively flat and fertile land lies within the Timu Central Forest Reserve, covering approximately 11,751 hectares. Although some community members cultivate within the reserve for survival, concerns persist over limited access to arable land and land for development.

Furthermore, key public service delivery infrastructure such as Timu Health Centre II, the two community-owned primary schools (Lokinene and Timu Primary Schools), and the recently constructed police station in Timu Sub-county are currently located on forest land.

This presents a serious policy dilemma. The concern here is that, having been empowered by ACODE and KHH in 2025, through a Civic Engagement Meeting (CEM) and the Citizen Engagement Action Plans (CEAPs), the Ik community petitioned the Government of Uganda through Kaabong District Local Government to have their Health Centre II upgraded to a Health Centre III and that the two community schools be coded.

Their demands are legitimate and constitutionally grounded. Yet if the Government were to be responsive to such demands, would there be secure and legally recognised land to support their expansion?

The Ik indigenous people don’t believe in cutting trees because of the immense values they hold such as providing vital resources, cultural significance, and ecological support. They offer food, medicine, building materials, and fuel, while also being integral to spiritual beliefs and traditional practices.

Furthermore, trees contribute to the health of ecosystems by supporting biodiversity and regulating the environment. However, there are concerns about increasing encroachment into Timu Central Forest Reserve by both the Ik and other migrating ethnic groups, such as the Dodot,h for cultivation and other human activities, such as charcoal burning; mainly practised by migrating groups of people who don’t appreciate the value of a forest.

Climate change has already intensified environmental stress in the Karamoja sub-region. Uganda must safeguard its forest cover. It is vital to note that conservation cannot come at the expense of historical justice.

Sustainable environmental management must reconcile ecological protection with the rights of communities displaced in the name of national conservation. Sustainable environmental management should be done in a manner that offers a delicate balance or in a manner that is just. This would most likely; give due consideration of the historical context and the systemic injustices endured by the Ik indigenous people.

This calls for deliberate affirmative action.

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Environment, should consider a special legal or policy framework granting the Ik secure tenure over a defined portion of land currently under forest designation. Such an approach need not dismantle conservation efforts. Rather, it can establish community-managed zones that allow settlement, controlled agriculture and infrastructure development while maintaining ecological safeguards.

This would align with Article 237(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, which recognises every citizen’s right to own land, and Article 32(1), which places a positive duty on the State to take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised by history, tradition or custom to redress existing imbalances.

Uganda has precedent. In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the Batwa indigenous people, acknowledging their illegal eviction from ancestral lands in the 1990s to create Bwindi, Mgahinga and Echuya national parks. The court recognised that the community had been treated inhumanely and ordered fair and just compensation.

For decades, the Ik have borne the cost of national conservation priorities without adequate compensation or integration into development planning.

Granting them secure land access within a structured and environmentally responsible framework would not weaken conservation objectives.

On the contrary, it would strengthen them by aligning ecological sustainability with social inclusion and local stewardship.

The path forward is not a choice between conservation and community. It is coexistence anchored in justice, policy clarity and the political will to correct long-standing inequities.

The writer is a Research Officer at the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment