Kween County MP cited in land grabbing scandal
Kween County MP Lawrence Mangusho. Courtesy photo
What you need to know:
- When contacted, the Kween County MP, Mr Manghuso denied the allegation but said the residents have long accused him of grabbing land.
- Justice Bamugemereire said the commission has discovered that politicians and business people are the most land grabbers in the country.
MBALE: Residents of Kween County in Kween District have accused their area Member of Parliament, Mr Lawrence Mangusho of allegedly grabbing land and evicting hundreds of people in several villages in two Sub counties of Ngenge and Kiriki.
The chairperson of landless community in Kween district, Mr Siraji Chebet told Daily Monitor on Saturday, that their area legislator connived with district leaders and grabbed over 20,000 acres of land, leaving the owners homeless.
“We were shocked to find out that our MP and two others, were claiming ownership of our land and yet we have never sold to them but when we investigated, we found out that they connived with district leaders to forge the titles,” Mr Chebet, said.
While appearing before the commission of inquiry into land matters chaired by chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire on Friday, the affected family members said they have been left homeless by their own leader.
“All these families are now landless after they were evicted and have nowhere to go. They sleep in the trading centres,” Mr Chebet, told the commission.
He named the most affected parishes as Sikwo, Cheptere, Chepsukunya, Kapterit, Lyilit in Ngenge Sub County and korit, Alarm in Kiriki Sub County.
Mr Chebet also accused the Resident District Commission (RDC) Mr Kennedy Adhola Otiti of aiding land grabbing, accusation the RDC vehemently denies.
The RDC, however, acknowledged while appearing before the commission that there is a lot of land grabbing and fraud cases in the district.
“Hundreds of people are now landless due fraud in land matters,” he said.
When contacted, the Kween County MP, Mr Manghuso denied the allegation but said the residents have long accused him of grabbing land.
Justice Bamugemereire said the commission has discovered that politicians and business people are the most land grabbers in the country.
“They get the land by fraud. There are multiple titles and forged titles in the area. People have been evicted by the land grabbers,” Justice Bamugemereire, said.
She also revealed that land grabbers survey land at night.
