"Chines Firm, Formasa Tree Planting Company accused of land grabbing in Mubende"

...In Ngabano village, Sam Ssenkinga has spent the last two months nursing life-threatening injuries from a vicious attack by neighbours and friends who he says attempted to end his life because of 13 acres of land...I am in this situation because I refused to sell my land,” the father of 12 and husband to two wives starts...Ssenkinga says his woes started when Formasa Tree Planting company, a Chinese-owned company, came to the area to grow pine trees. In a bid to secure more land, the company has been trying to buy off many of the tenants and landowners in the three villages of Kyedikyo, Nakasozi and Kicucula...

According to Ssenkinga, when Formasa officials approached him sometime last year, he told them that he valued his land at Shs100 million. “I told them to give me Shs 100 million in exchange for the land because I had already done a lot on it; there were seven acres of coffee, four and a half acres of eucalyptus trees, and my banana plantation. When they said they couldn’t buy it for that amount, I refused to sell,” he narrated. Because of his stand, Ssenkinga says, he received some veiled threats from workers at the farm, but he ignored them – until March 17, 2016, when they escalated to violence...In hospital, Ssenkinga was visited by two managers of Formasa, Abel Turwaneho and a lady only identified by locals as Anna. Turwaneho offered Ssenkinga Shs 200,000 while Anna offered Ssenkinga Shs 500,000 for treatment. A few days later, according to Ssenkinga, the Formasa managers were back with a proposal. They wanted to purchase his land so that he could use the money for medication...

...Formasa manager['s] response was that it was not the company’s policy to harass landowners. He said their workers could have taken matters into their own hands and those found to have done so would be disciplined by the company.