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Bring back land cases to clan leaders, Emorimor tells Soroti Chief Magistrate
Papa Emorimor Augustine Osuban launching Iteso Clan Directory. Photo by JOSEPH EIGU ONYANGO
SOROTI: As cases of land wrangles dominate Soroti High Court, the Iteso Cultural Leader (ICU), His Highness Papa Emorimor Augustine Osuban has directed Soroti Chief Magistrate, Ruth Nabassa to refer back such cases to be settled by the clan leaders.
Osuban argued that the matters related to land should be adjudicated within the clans and that the clan leaders must learn to express the truth because if they continue peddling lies, then they are bound to destroy the trust and system in place.
Osuban who was speaking before the Soroti Chief Magistrate, Ruth Nabassa at Paxland Hotel located in Nakatunya suburb-Soroti Municipality on Tuesday during the official launch of Iteso Clans Directory, stated that they have all the lawful provisions of governing Iteso including their land.
“All the lawful provision of governing Iteso and their land is provided for in our Iteso Cultural Directory but those flouting it are doing so in their own capacities” Osuban said.
In his plea with the judicial system, Osuban assured that in Teso, Iteso have customary land system tenure that an NGO called Land and Equity Movement Uganda (LEMU) has intervened to assist them produce a clan directory of which they would wish the judiciary in Soroti to solidly handle land issues in liaison with clan leaders.
He attributed the increasing land wrangles in Teso to the growing population of Iteso estimated to be now standing at 3 million people with over 1200 clans according to figures disclosed during the census.
Mzee Joseph Okadapao, Constitution and legal affair in Iteso Cultural Union alleged that in most cases the courts have messed up land cases by issuing false documents to the complainants and that it’s a right time their cry is heard by the magistrates operating in Teso to stop the practice.
However, Soroti Chief Magistrate, Ruth Nabassa denied the allegations stating that in their judicial approach on land matters, they visit the locus to assess the land dispute before reaching the final judgment.
“We have regulations of how people obtain letters of administration, but also you clans leaders have failed to mediate cases of land where widows land have been grabbed by some clan members and is where the judiciary comes in to give the right ruling” Nabassa said, adding that the launch of Iteso Clans Directory is a landmark to total cooperation in adjudication of land cases in the region because the courts would now be conducting enough consultation with clans heads.
