UPDF General cited in Nwoya land grabbing

Kampala- A senior UPDF officer has been cited in alleged land grabbing and violent eviction of more than 6,000 families in Purongo and Apwoyo sub-counties in Nwoya District.

It is alleged that between March and April, Maj Gen Charles Otema Awanyi, the UPDF reserve force commander, deployed armed men to execute unlawful evictions where he later allegedly grabbed hectares of land. He is accused of encroaching on Jonam land that covers several villages in Purongo and Got Apwoyo sub-counties.

Gen Otema is jointly accused with several others, including Capt Martin Labeja, Nwoya District water engineer Okumu Anywar and Iraq-based Fred Oola.

Evidence presented before the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters shows that the disputed land is located in 28 villages bordering River Nile between Pakwach District and Murchison Falls National Park.

Mr Jathim Pyerino, 66, one of the victims who lost property on the 48-acre piece of land that he owned customarily testified yesterday that armed soldiers and workers from Gen Otema’s farm burnt his house and tortured him before they abandoned him in police cells in Anaka.

Among the properties destroyed during the violent evictions include the government-aided Obira Primary School and Kazanaku Trading Centre.

Mr Pyerino blamed Gen Otema for the violent March and April incidents that forced people to flee to the neighbouring Pakwach District.

“I was attacked and arrested; my house was burnt and the armed men beat me into coma under the watch of the Nwoya District Police Commander Okello. All my property was robbed; my animals were taken and now my plantations have been harvested by those men without my consent,” the former resident of Obira South added.

Mr Pyerino said all efforts to find justice through courts of law have since failed.

“After people being kicked out and brutalised, the land is surrounded by soldiers and no one can go back to it. The people, who were arrested were told that the soldiers are sent by Maj Gen Otema and he deployed civilians with guns to patrol the land, which he calls his farm,” he testified.

Justice Bamugemereire said the commission will hear evidence from all parties named in the dispute before advising government on the measures of solving the impasse.

“We would like to warn anybody who would want to cause danger to Mr Pyerino and other complainants that the big eye of government and the commission are open on you,” she ordered.

Gen Otema, who has recorded a statement with the land probe, is slated to give his side of the story today.

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