Fake railway land claimants warned

A train in Lira District recently. The Standard Gauge Railway will pass through northern Uganda. PHOTO BY BILL OKETCH

What you need to know:

Issue. Government says all those seeking to sabotage the Standard Gauge Railway project in the name of compensation will be arrested .

Gulu. The permanent secretary in the ministry of Works, Mr Alex Okello, has threatened to arrest residents who deliberately settle along the railway line in order to be compensated for the Standard Gauge Railway project.
Government has earmarked Shs100 billion to compensate people living along the railway and construction of the railway line begins next month.
Mr Okello said land assessment has started but warned that government will work closely with local authorities to arrest all illegal claimants.
“The railway was constructed many years ago before most of you were born. So if we get you claiming land that does not belong to you yet you started staying on the land recently, then the law will take its course,” he said in Gulu Town on Friday.
The government official was addressing leaders from Acholi sub-region about development of the railway project.
He said the railway line reserve will be expanded from the current 60 metres to 100 metres, adding that affected persons who also deliberately exaggerate the compensation will be evicted forcibly from their land.
Uganda Railways acting managing director Charles Kateeba appealed to local leaders to desist from conniving with the assessment team in a bid to profit by exaggerating compensation figures.
Kilak County MP Gilbert Olanya urged the Works ministry to ensure that there is adequate sensitisation of land owners about the compensation to avoid disputes.
The ministry’s call comes on the backdrop of land wrangles in northern Uganda. Recently, Kilak County MP Gilbert Olanya and Amuru Woman MP Lucy Akello escaped lynching when the duo had gone to mediate a land conflict in Apaa Ogali village, Amuru District.

BACKGROUND
The Standard Gauge Railway will start from Mombasa to Nairobi and then Kampala. It will also move from Tororo to Nimule in South Sudan via Gulu and then Kampala to Kasese and Kigali. It will move through Pakwach to the Democratic Republic of Congo border. The construction of the project is expected to be completed in 2018.