Socially, economically, and politically marginalised; the Benet (also known as Ndorobos) are without doubt one of the most miserable communities in Uganda! They comprise a cluster of Sabinys who have lived in and around Mt Elgon forest for more than two centuries, initially as hunters and gatherers but later on as sedentary pastoralists and small-scale farmers without land tenure rights.
In 1938, much of the Mt Elgon forest landscape in which Ndorobos lived was gazetted a forest reserve by the British colonial government implying the area would be managed primarily for protection of its water catchment values and timber exploitation. The colonialists did recognise however, the importance of the forest to the Ndorobo and so decided to leave them behind the demarcated forest boundary; inside the gazetted area.
In fact, the name Benet, which means "people who were left behind" in Kup Sabiny attests to this colonial goodwill. By-and-large, successive post-independence governments maintained the status quo, leaving Ndorobos to live and survive on Mt Elgon forest resources until 1983, when a decision was made by the then UPC Government to degazette and resettle them on 6000ha of reserve.
By that time, the increased Ndorobo population was impacting negatively on the forest reserve resources and their presence inside the forest reserve was legitimising and catalysing illegal encroachment from forest criminals and other non indigenous communities.
Contrary to government intentions, much of the 6000ha land was grabbed by, and benefited voracious power brokers at the expense of the voiceless, the powerless, and the impoverished Ndorobos. Prominent local politicians and businessmen parcelled out big chunks of land for themselves and their relatives. Even forest rangers who were on the land allocation became illegitimate beneficiaries.
To the Ndorobos, this was a double tragedy; a cruel unfolding of the biblical philosophy according to Mark 4:25: "For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him." They had been excised from their ancestral home with a compensatory promise of alternative land but by an ugly turn of fate, what was meant to be a gesture of goodwill from government was abused by officials of the same government! And because all illegitimate beneficiaries comprised of power brokers; the Ndorobos owing to their powerlessness had nowhere to turn for redress.
To survive, Ndorobos have since lived the life of an outlaw; playing a deadly game of “hide and seek” with heavily-armed Mt. Elgon rangers in an attempt to access the only livelihood means available to them: forest resources. This game has been even more ferocious since 1993, when Mt. Elgon forest reserve was elevated to a National Park status. For instance early this year in February, 4,000 Ndorobos living in Mt. Elgon National Park were violently evicted by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers and the UPDF. People lost their lives while property worth millions of shillings was destroyed during the operation.
Yet amid all this animosity, conflict, and abuse of power; there is still a sense of goodwill from government. UWA for example, has consciously attempted to taper their fall out with Ndorobos through collaborative forest management; an initiative which empowers local communities to legally access their preferred forest resources in accordance with terms mutually agreed upon and laid out in a forest resource use agreement. In recent past, government has de-gazetted additional chunks of Park land to resettle Ndorobos - although a lack of fairness in land distribution is still apparent in much the same way as in 1980s (see “Mt. Elgon squatters petition IGG over land, The New vision, October 6, 2008).
Thus, while there has not been shortage of government goodwill to address the Ndorobo question, their tragedy remains unrelenting because a complementary political goodwill to bring corrupt power brokers to account has been glaringly lacking. And until government wakes to this deficiency, Ndorobos will remain mere pawns on the chess board; baits for local politicians and businessmen who seek personal economic aggrandizement from National Park land.
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