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Govt to settle expelled returnees in Kyegegwa
The State minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru (centre), hands over food to evictees in Kyegegwa District last year. File photo
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Complaint. District leadership says land in Kazinga meant for resettlement is too small
KYEGEGWA.
The government will resettle more than 5,000 landless Ugandan returnees who were expelled from Tanzania in 2013 and more than 1,000 other locals evicted from forest reserves in Kyegegwa and Kyenjojo districts.
The returnees from Tanzania are currently camped at Kazinga in Kyegegwa District while more than 1,000 who were evicted from government forests in Kyenjojo and Kyegegwa districts are in a makeshift camp at the prisons land in Kyegegwa Town Council.
The Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, on Wednesday met Kyegegwa District leaders in Kyegegwa to discuss the matter.
He said both categories of the displaced people will be resettled in Kazinga.
“We are not going to evict anyone but we are going to settle all the people on this land. There will be re-arrangement of land. Land owned by each individual will be reduced so that everyone gets a piece accordingly. Ugandans expelled from Tanzania and Kyenjojo forest evictees have to share the government land in Kazinga, Kyaka II,” Mr Ecweru said.
However, the Kyegegwa District leadership is opposed to the resettlement of the evictees in Kazinga.
The Kyegegwa LC5 chairman, Mr John Kisoke, and other district leaders said the land at Kazinga is too small to take more people.
“The land at Kazinga is overpopulated already. Where are you going to put all these people? You can look for another piece of land elsewhere,” Mr Kisoke told Mr Ecweru.
Mr Ecweru told the district leaders that the government can only look for an alternative land if they presented scientific evidence to prove that the land at Kazinga is too small and congested.
Area MP Jackson Kafuzi asked the government to sensitise the masses on the resettlement to avoid conflict.
“I am afraid people might clash. We need to carry out a lot of sensitisation before these people are resettled there,” Mr Kafuzi said.
Mr Ecweru said the resettlement is going to be done properly with a health facility, a school and other amenities established. The resettlement exercise, according to Mr Ecweru, will take about two months. A 12-man committee has been appointed to oversee the resettlement.
