The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is in the final stages of processing land titles to residents of Karusandara Sub County, Kasese District, according to the State Minister for Housing Chris Baryomunsi.
Karusandara sub-county was created in 1989. It is mainly occupied by members of the Basongora communities from Virunga National Park, who had settled on a piece of land measuring over 5,000 acres, carved out of Mubuku Prisons farm. Additionally, the Basongora ancestral land in Bukangara and Rwehingo totalling 25,000 acres was shared between the pastoralists and cultivators in the ratio of 17,000 and 8,000 acres respectively.
However, there have been conflicts between the three tribes; Bakhonzo, Basongora and Banyabindi each claiming total control of the land. The government in 2017 had promised to give free land titles to more than 2,000 households in the sub-county to calm disputes between the groups. This process has since delayed.
But Baryomunsi who met a few leaders and locals from the sub-county said the government was aware of the tensions in the community and has been working to ensure that it’s controlled. “There issue of land titles should not be a concern anymore because we are handling it and soon you will receive them.” He said.
Catherine Ahumuza, the LC II chairperson of Kyalanga parish says the lack of land titles has stagnated development of the area since they cannot use it as a form of security or make permanent developments. She welcomes government commitment as a relief to the conflicts between communities.
Gladys Ahebwa, a resident in the sub-county earlier told URN that the lack of titles has limited family development and education of their children. For rural communities like Karusandara, Ahebwa says the only form of security they can have to boast their development land.
The government holds about 65 per cent of the land in Kasese with the three tribes of Bakhonzo, Basongora and Banyabindi squeezed into a corridor to share the 35 per cent.
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