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Church, clan leaders take land battle to Appeal’s court
What you need to know:
- Through their lawyers of Omongole & Co. Advocates, the five members of Imoratok led by Mr Mark Aleu, in their appeal before the Court of Appeal, say they are dissatisfied with the decision of Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, which he delivered on October 14, 2022.
A land row between the Soroti Catholic Diocese and the Imoratok Clan in Teso Sub-region has taken a new twist on with the latter now appealing the decision of the High Court that went in favour of the Church.
Through their lawyers of Omongole & Co. Advocates, the five members of Imoratok led by Mr Mark Aleu, in their appeal before the Court of Appeal, say they are dissatisfied with the decision of Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, which he delivered on October 14, 2022.
“Take notice that [Mark Aleu and five] others (herein referred to as the appellants) being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the decision of Justice Henry Peter Adonyo…intend to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the whole decision made there under,” reads in part the appeal notice.
They fault Justice Adonyo for not having gone to the ground to determine where the original land donated to the church starts and ends.
They claim that the judge would have seen the extra land that St Peter’s Canisius-Orungo annexed to the original land donated to them by their forefathers.
Justice Adonyo held that the six clan leaders sued the Church to grab land belonging to it on a false claim that the land in question was customarily held and had been inherited.
“The claim has been found wanting and has been dismissed with costs. A court of law cannot allow greedy persons to come up and allege custom when none exists,” Justice Adonyo ruled.
Court documents show that in 1944, the late Etengu, granted permission to the Catholic Church to establish a church and later a health centre and a primary school. The activities on the 50-acre customary land donated to the church were to be purely religious, educational, and for health and not business.
Court records show that around 2009 and 2010, the Soroti Catholic Church, allegedly encroached on the land of the Imoratok Clan by surveying an additional 87 acres to the benefit of a non-existent legal entity, St Peters Canisius Catholic Church in Orungo, without their consent, prompting them to sue the religious institution. Also sued were the Amuria District Land Board and Fr Joseph Ipurale Ocom, then parish priest of St Peter’s Canisius in Orungo.
“Under the aforesaid grant, the land was never intended to be converted into freehold ownership by the church or any other entity, more specifically, the non-legal entity of St Peter’s Canisius-Orungo but was intended to promote religious, educational, and health activities in the area…” reads in part the court documents.
The six clan elders’ claim is not the land that was initially donated to the church but the extra land allegedly encroached upon by the church without their consent. They further claim that the church did not have the right to alienate the suit land because they didn’t have ownership of the same.
“The customary ownership of the suit land is enjoyed only by the people of the Imoratok clan where the plaintiffs belong,” court records state.
When contacted yesterday, Fr Ocom, then parish priest, denied the allegations that the Church encroached on land belonging to the Imoratok Clan but instead said it is the very people who want to grab the Church land.
“The High Court ruled against them and we are aware that they have gone to the Court of Appeal. Actually, it’s these people who are using what God has blessed them with to grab what their forefathers gave to the church,” Fr Ocom said in a telephone interview yesterday.
He also wondered where the more than 100 acres of land that the six clan members were talking about came from. He said the land they know amounts to 52 acres.
The Court of Appeal is yet to commence hearing the appeal lodged by the Imoratok Clan.
