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Locals fight over State House land
Affected. Mr Deogratius Kisembo, the Mutunda Sub-county chairman, addresses the affected residents at Kisenyi Trading Centre in Kiryandongo District on Friday. PHOTO BY SANTO OJOK
What you need to know:
- Issue. Residents claim the self-appointed chairman of Ranch Eleven, Mr Musa Faraj, is illegally settling people on their land.
Hundreds of people occupying Ranch Eleven in Kiryandongo District have accused a Kigumba-based businessman of conniving with district authorities to evict them from the government land.
Mr Deogratius Kisembo, the Mutunda Sub-county chairman, said the contentious Ranch Eleven was offered to citizens by State House to settle in “free of charge” 19 years ago.
“In the year 2000, State House directed Mutunda Sub-county leadership to settle Kibyama community, Banyankole herdsmen, the Nubian and Alur communities and the war veterans on this land and we did as instructed,” he said.
Mr Godfrey Wamono, the area LC3 councillor, said the new influx of people claiming to be settled by the self-appointed chairman of Ranch Eleven, Mr Musa Faraj, is a challenge.
“These people come here at night, they ignore offices recognised by government, others are stealing people’s property,” he said.
The Kimugora A Village chairman, Mr Geoffrey Kiviri, said a group of 10 men were moving in his area last week measuring land including his.
“They encroached on my garden and cut down my bananas before spraying the plantation with an herbicide to dry it,” he said.
Ms Merabu Okuri, a member of Kibyama community, said she settled in Ranch Eleven since 2013. But this year, Mr Faraj grabbed her piece of land and gave it to other people, telling her to leave with immediate effect.
“I tried to complain to him but he told me that if I don’t leave his land I will be slashed like grass,” she said.
Mr Kisembo said he reported the matter to the district authorities several times but no action was taken. This, he said, raised suspicion that the authorities could be having a hand in the plot to evict the occupants from the said land.
When contacted, Mr Faraj said the land belongs to government and that he is settling only National Resistance Movement (NRM) cadres on it.
“This land is not for sale but I can give it to you only if you are a NRM cadre but if you are not, please don’t come here. We don’t want people who want to confuse us,” he said in a telephone interview on Sunday.
However, the Kiryandongo District LC5 chairperson, Mr Charles Itairyoki Amooti, said the land is not customarily owned and the district is not leasing it to anybody.
He denied any connivance with Mr Faraj to illegally rent out or sell the land.
“The matter is not yet brought to my attention. If it is, we shall investigate it to find the truth of the matter,” he said.
Mr Peter Dibele, the Kiryandongo Resident District Commissioner, declined to comment on the matter saying he cannot discuss it on phone call.
“Come to my office we talk face to face,” he said before hanging up.
ABOUT THE RANCH
Ranch Eleven in Kakwokwo Parish, Mutunda Sub-county, covers about five square miles of land. It is currently occupied by an estimated population of about 5,000 people of different ethnic origin.
