Govt team in UK for map to decide Tororo boundary
Ms Betty Amongi
Tororo- The government has sent a delegation to the UK for a colonial map to establish the actual boundary of Tororo Municipality following a long-standing conflict between the Iteso and Jopadhola communities over ownership.
The 10-member delegation led by the Minister of Lands, Ms Betty Amongi, reportedly left the country on Saturday to verify with colonial maps the exact location of the municipality and its boundaries. They were sent on orders of President Museveni.
The delegation comprised three leaders from each of the rivalling communities and four officials from the Lands ministry, including minister Amongi.
Earlier, Ms Amongi had written to the leaders of the two cultural institutions to nominate representatives to the delegation travelling to London as part of the ongoing interventions to settle the Jopadhola-Iteso conflict over the boundary.
Tororo North County MP Annette Nyaketcho appealed to her counterparts in West Budama to abide by the findings.
“They should respect the outcome. I also call upon President Museveni to make a lasting decision when maps are verified,” she said.
However, Mr David Asyep, the information minister of Tieng Adhola cultural institution, said they rely on history, not colonial boundaries.
“We are not bothered, but what we have observed is that the demand for a separate new district by the Iteso people has a hidden motive,” he claimed.
Fall-out
The tensions between the two communities started before independence in 1962 and led to the demarcations that separated West Budama for Jopadhola from Tororo County for Iteso.
The separation, however, escalated the tensions a few years ago after residents of Tororo County requested Mr Museveni for their own district.
The government agreed to grant Tororo County a district status but the location of Tororo Municipality remained a matter of contention as each group claimed it.
Last year following the death of Tororo district chairperson Apollo Jaramogi Oloo, residents of Tororo County met and resolved to shun the ensuing by-elections unless government granted them an independent district.
The enraged residents held the Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama and his commissioners hostage at Mukuju County headquarters, forcing the EC to call off the election.
In December last year, one person was shot dead as protesters from Jopadhola community clashed with police over a decision by Iteso to hold a cultural gala in Tororo town, which they claim belongs to them [Jopadhola].
However, the prime minister of Iteso Cultural Union, Mr Paul Sande Emolot, while addressing his people said Tororo municipality belongs to Tororo County.
“We are more than 100 per cent that the truth is going to prevail and the devil is going to shame those who have been trying to alter the boundaries,” he said, adding that no one can uproot their boundaries which were planted by their ancestors.
