Court orders Serere officials to halt development on contested land
What you need to know:
- An interim order was issued by Soroti High Court against the 11 people, barring them from using the land in contention until the main suit was disposed of.
Serere District local government has for the second time been ordered by court not to carry out any activities on the contested 150-acre piece of land in Kasilo Village, Kamod Parish until the main suit is disposed of.
Last Friday, the registrar of Soroti High Court, Ms Julia Acio, visited the contested land in a bid to re-enforce the earlier interim order since Serere District local government had started to breach it.
“The defendants (Serere District local government and the four individuals), should not go ahead and cultivate again on the land. There should be no further construction of houses/huts on the same land,” registrar Acio re-enforced the earlier interim order.
Adding: “The people living in the district veterinary staff house are not allowed to cultivate or carry out any further activities beyond its compound and the pit latrine until the main case is heard.”
Creation of a road, cutting of timber, arrests of the relatives of the petitioner, continued cultivation were, among other activities that were ongoing and yet the same activities had in a 2016 interim order been halted by the court.
Following the issuance of the said interim order, the trial judge ordered for a temporary demarcation of the boundaries of the said land being claimed and occupied by the warring parties, hence the visit by the registrar on Friday.
To that effect, Registrar Acio’s visit saw her set up temporary boundaries for each of the warring parties to observe in the meantime as directed earlier by the judge so that court can ably hear out this matter.
She was accompanied to the disputed land by counsel Julius Ojok who represented the petitioner Mr Moses Omiat, counsel Twarabereho for the four defendants and Ms Juliet Topacho from the Attorney General’s chambers who represented Serere District local government.
This matter arose in 2016 when Mr Omiat as the administrator of the estate of the late Amollo George, sued 11 people for trespass on their ancestral chunk of land.
To that effect, an interim order was issued by Soroti High Court against the 11 people, barring them from using the land in contention until the main suit was disposed of.
Along the way, Serere District local government, applied to court to be substituted for some of the defendants.
Subsequently, this saw Serere District local government alongside Joseph Atingu, Stephen Ejanyu, Sostin Okoja and Calvin Olinga remain as the defendants instead of the earlier 11 individuals.
Speaking to Daily Monitor at the weekend, Serere Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Okiswa promised to have this matter handled amicably and quickly.
The hearing of the main case is expected to be in March this year.
