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Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The army has arrested ten people for unlawful entry into a farm owned by a cattle keeper in Gulu District.
The suspects were picked up from Lugore Village in Owalo Sub-County on Thursday by heavily armed soldiers and driven to Lugore Barracks. Some of those arrested include Patrick Okello Onguti, a former contestant in the 2021 Aswa County Parliamentary race, and Okoya Owen Chris, the Owalo Sub-County LCIII Chairperson, among others.
The suspects led by Onguti gained access to the farm and drove close to 130 cattle away from their grazing area into a kraal, accusing the owner of not complying with the directives on fencing.
Onguti told Uganda Radio Network in an interview before his arrest that the farm owner identified only as Enock had failed to install a strong fence around his land leaving animals to invade his neighbor’s garden.
He says while President Museveni had issued instructions for cattle keepers (Balaalo) to secure their land boundary with strong fences, and provide adequate water sources, nothing was happening on the ground.
Margaret Amony, a farmer and neighbor at the ranch says her sorghum was destroyed by cattle that strayed from the farm but only got compensation sh120,000 from the owner.
Amony also notes that she now intends to shift away from the area to new farmland to escape the cattle menace.
An army officer who commanded the arrest and only identified himself as Innocent from Lugore barracks notes that the suspects assumed roles they weren’t assigned in the implementation of evicting the cattle keepers.
He notes that the President only mandated the Fourth Infantry Division Commander, Resident District Commissioners, and the State minister for Northern Uganda to carry out the implementation of the eviction.
According to him, the deadline for the three-week ultimatum issued by President Museveni to non-compliant cattle keepers to vacate the region hadn’t yet elapsed.
He says the suspects will be handed to the police for further investigation and charged accordingly.
Francis Joel Komakech, the Palaro Sub- County however condemned the arrest citing that the suspects weren’t violent but only went to monitor the level of compliance as the deadline for eviction elapses on Friday.
Komakech notes that four other people had also been arrested earlier on Wednesday evening and their public address system confiscated by the army for mobilizing locals against the cattle keepers.
The Fourth Infantry Division Spokesperson Maj. Telesphor Turyamumanya confirmed the arrest of the suspects but declined to divulge more details.
The arrest comes just a day to the expiry of the directives issued to no-compliant cattle keepers who haven’t fenced their land and provided water sources on their ranch to vacate Northern Uganda.
President Museveni had given the non-compliant cattle keepers until November 24 to fence their land, provide water sources, and settle pending land conflicts or vacate Northern Uganda.
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