MPs demand special audit on Karamoja land
Justice Catherine Bamugemereire heading for chair a lands meeting in Napak District, Karamoja sub region on Wednesday. Photo by Steven Ariong
What you need to know:
- Justice Bamugemereire who is on a three-day working visit in the region promised to deal with people who have ‘injured’ many families in Karamoja by grabbing their land.
Members of Parliament hailing from Karamoja sub region have asked government to carry out a special audit on land in Karamoja to ascertain available land for the community.
The MPs made the call on Tuesday during a meeting with the Commission of inquiry into land matters chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire at Moroto District chamber hall.
Mr John Baptist Lokii, the MP for Matheniko County in Moroto said a lot of land in Karamoja has been grabbed in the name of investment while part of it is under Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and it’s now unclear how much land has remained for the community.
“My lord, a lot of land in Karamoja has been gazetted into industrial park, Uganda Wildlife parks and mineral areas, so we don’t known how much land is now left for the local community of Karamoja,” he said.
Ms Stella Atyang, the Moroto District woman MP said the current land grabbing in the region is engineered by ‘’a few educated Karimojong’’ who have left very many families to liv as squatters.
She appealed the Lands Commission to help and cancel all land titles in Karamoja saying 70% of those where illegally acquired.
Mr Samson Lokeris, the Dodth East County MP, who is the chairperson of Karamoja Parliamentary Group, appealed to the Commission to treat land complaints in Karamoja as serious and have them addressed promptly.
Mr Albert Lokoru, the Tepeth County MP accused the district land registrars for helping land grabbers to process land titles after getting bribes.
“My lord, your coming to Karamoja is very crucial mostly to our people who have been rendered landless. The now have much hope that they can still get their land back,” he said.
Justice Bamugemereire who is on a three-day working visit in the region promised to deal with people who have ‘injured’ many families in Karamoja by grabbing their land.
“I want you to calm down and register all your complaints with us, am going to do thorough investigations and bring to book whoever has grabbed land in Karamoja,” she said.
She urged government officials to stop using their offices to grab people’s land. Meanwhile many of the district officials in Moroto dodged the meeting for fear of being arrested.
