Garage owners and mechanics in Ntungamo Municipality are facing mounting uncertainty after being subjected to back-to-back evictions that have left many without a stable place to operate, following a crackdown by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) on encroachment into protected land.
The latest eviction saw mechanics ordered to vacate a 12-hectare section of the Ntungamo Central Forest Reserve in Eastern Division, after NFA directed all encroachers to leave immediately.
The move came only months after another relocation exercise that had already displaced the group from their previous operating area.
The mechanics say the repeated displacements have severely disrupted their livelihoods, forcing them into costly temporary arrangements on private land that they say are unsustainable.
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Many had already invested in relocating tools and securing new space, only to be forced out again under what they describe as abrupt enforcement action.
"We don't have where to start from. We had booked space and rented it at 200,000 shillings per month, but we have been evicted. We are helpless. We were given one day to leave this place. We ask government to help us and the council to give us a gazetted space," said Umar Sango, one of the affected mechanics.
Others said they were initially removed from roadside locations under municipal enforcement directives, with assurances that a designated garage area would be provided, a promise they now say has not materialised.
"We were sent off the main streets and promised a garage street here, but now NFA wants us out," said Kevin Kayich.
Another mechanic said uncertainty has left them stranded with no clear alternative.
"The council had told us that this would be our street, but the NFA objected. We are now in space," he said.
Ntungamo Municipal Council leadership has acknowledged the crisis but says it is constrained by limited land availability and ongoing negotiations with the forestry authority.
Mayor Jakajex Kafureeka said the municipality does not currently have a suitable alternative site to relocate the mechanics, though discussions are ongoing to resolve the impasse.
"That land is not for the municipal council. We have been still negotiating with NFA to see how we can give them land we bought 3km from here and planted trees. They are chasing these people, but for us as municipal council, we don't have where to put them. The municipality has no land," he said.
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The municipality has proposed relocating the mechanics to a site reportedly acquired 3km away, but implementation remains uncertain as discussions continue with the forestry authority.
The eviction drive reflects a broader national push by the NFA to reclaim protected ecosystems from human encroachment, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas where economic activity has increasingly expanded into forest reserves.
However, the situation in Ntungamo highlights the growing friction between environmental protection enforcement and the survival of informal sector workers, many of whom rely on garage work for daily income.
With hundreds of mechanics affected, the standoff has raised concern over how local governments can balance land conservation obligations with the need to provide viable economic spaces for urban informal workers.
