The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Nwoya, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Security personnel in Nwoya district will this week embark on the forceful eviction of pastoralists who are illegally occupying government land in Te Okot village, Got Apwoyo sub-county.
The decision comes nearly three weeks after several attempts employed by the district to persuade the pastoralists to voluntarily vacate the land failed.
Last month, the State Minister for Internal Affairs Gen. David Muhoozi, ordered the eviction of all pastoralists occupying government land in Acholi and Lango sub-regions. In Got Apwoyo sub-county alone, close to a dozen pastoralists owning 10 large kraals are currently grazing a mix of long-horned Ankole cattle and exotic cattle breeds for fattening.
But Nwoya Resident District Commissioner Agnes Akello Ebong says weeks after the directives were issued, attempts to have the pastoralists peacefully leave the land failed to materialize. Ebong says they will now resort to the use of force to kick out pastoralists who will fail to leave the land by today when the grace period they gave the pastoralists ends.
She notes that security personnel in the district and sub-county leaders are on the ground sensitizing the pastoralists to utilize the grace period given by voluntarily vacating before they are forcefully evicted.
Ben Latim Openy, Got Apwoyo sub-county chairperson says in most of the kraals they visited, pastoralists were unwilling to vacate the land. Openy says the majority of the pastoralists are pleading for more time to look for a market for their cattle while others claim they don’t have any other place to relocate their animals.
“Right now we are on the ground monitoring kraals where the pastoralists are keeping their animals, but it’s unfortunate that most of these pastoralists are unwilling to vacate the land,” says Openy.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) a week ago lifted the animal quarantine restrictions in Nwoya districts, five months after the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease-FMD. But veterinary officials say the lifting of the quarantine was a political ploy to pave way for the implementation of pastoralists’ eviction despite positive cases of FMD in the district.
Dr Martin Ukwir, the District Veterinary officer told Uganda Radio Network in an earlier interview that 30 per cent of samples taken from infected animals in Purongo and Anaka sub-counties taken in December last year turned positive for FMD.
Amuru Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Osborn Oceng on the other hand says they have begun implementing the eviction of pastoralists on government land in Lakang sub-county. He notes that by last week, four trucks fully loaded with cattle had left the government land.
Oceng however notes that the pastoralists have devised new tricks of relocating to new areas to graze animals instead of vacating the district.
The first phase of the eviction exercise targeting pastoralists on government land will last one month. Already three weeks out of the one-month duration have elapsed since the exercise was launched on January 15.
Other government lands where pastoralists are reportedly illegally occupying include Aswa Ranch in Angagura sub-county in Pader district and Maruzi Ranch in Apac district.
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