Gulu evictees demand compensation
Some of the residents at the market centre at Holy Rosary village in Gulu municipality. Most of them settled here during the height of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency. PHOTO BY JOHN OKOT
GULU- A total of 900 residents who settled on National Forestry Authority (NFA) land in Laroo Division, Gulu Municipality, are demanding compensation from Gulu Municipal Council before eviction.
The demand from the residents follows a move by the Municipal Council and a team of surveyors from the Lands ministry who recently assessed the 98 hectare piece of land for commercial buildings.
The residents argue that they have settled in the area for long and it will be unfair for the municipal authority to evict them without compensation.
In 2013, the High Court issued an eviction notice following a petition filed by NFA to order the relocation of the residents who encroached on the forestry body’s land.
However, NFA reached a mutual agreement with Gulu Municipal Council to swap the land for another in Purongo Sub-county, Nwoya District, in a bid to steer development in a yet-to-be Gulu city.
Residents speak out
Ms Joyce Oryem, the Holy Rosary sub-ward LCI chairperson in Laroo Division, said municipal officials should consider compensating each family with at least Shs3 million.
Mr Oryem added that there are 20 families that have lived on the disputed land for the last 20 years, adding that such families need to be helped to remain on the land.
Ms Rose Atim, an LRA returnee, says ever since she returned from captivity in 2002, she has known the place as her home.
“I have three children and we have nowhere to go,” Ms Atim says.
However, in a telephone interview with Daily Monitor on Wednesday, the Gulu Municipality mayor, Mr George Labeja, said no one shall be compensated upon eviction, adding that those who want to be given free land due to their long stay will only be allowed if they are ready to meet premium costs.
