The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Elders and cultural leaders in the nine districts that constitute the Karamoja region in the north eastern Uganda have demanded to have a meeting with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni over land grabbing.
The elders say they would like President Museveni to explain to them why the people grabbing land in Karamoja are using his names.
Lothia Nangorimuj, an elder and LC1 chairperson of Lokilala village in Naduget Sub County Moroto district told Uganda Radio Netowrk – URN on Monday that meeting President Museveni would be the best option so that he (Museveni) tells the elders his position as far as land grabbing in Karamoja is concerned.
“We are losing our land every day to people who come using force and using president Museveni’s name as a ‘password’ to grab our land. We want President Museveni to tell us why people in his government have continued to victimize us the Karimojong,” he said.
Nangorimuj says in the past regimes land in Karamoja was not grabbed like is the case now.
Mark Longok, another elder said the meeting with President Museveni should not be held at his state lodge in Morulinga in Napak district but should be in another gazetted area.
“This is not how government should treat us the Karimojong after collecting our guns which have rendered us harmless to protect our land from land grabbers, “ he added.
Joseph Lomokol, another elder from Rupa Sub County said they would propose to President Museveni to return their guns so that they can protect their land from land grabbers.
“Yes we love the peace that government has established in Karamoja, but this peace should not usher in more problems for us because its only land remaining in Karamoja because all the livestock got finished during cattle raids, “he said.
He noted that many people are grabbing their land using President Museveni’s name without consulting the land owner’s.
James Loru, the chairman of the area land committee of Nadunget Sub County in Moroto district said the so called investors are using some elite Karimojong who have established themselves outside Karamoja to grab land.
“Yes we want Karamoja to develop but investors must come and face the land owners without using middle men who have their own different agendas,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from President Museveni’s senior press secretary, Don Wanyama were futile as he could not pick the calls.
According to the survey of 2019 by Ecological Christian organisation, an NGO advocating for the rights of the Karimojong on land matter, 98.7% of land in Karamoja have been liencesed and there are 178 investors holding exploration and mining leases ranging from 10 to 40 years.
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