Soroti Catholic Diocese decries land grabbing

SOROTI. Christians of Soroti Catholic Diocese have been accused of encroaching on diocese land across Teso Sub-region.
The land in question is said to have been acquired by the Church a Century ago.
The Rt Rev Fr Francis Xavier Okello, the Vicar General of Soroti Catholic Diocese, decried the rampant land grabbing that has resulted in numerous court cases.

“Our institutional land is being encroached on by Christians who are part of the congregation who are expected to live a just life.
“Instead of thinking what development activity to undertake, we are most of the time in court trying to arbitrate land cases which involves most Christians,” Fr Okello said.
He said this during the celebrations to mark St Patrick’s Day at St Patrick Catholic Church Madera in Soroti Town on Sunday.

The ceremony
The celebrations were also used to welcome the newly appointed parish priests for St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Madera, Rt Rev Fr Henry Agit and his assistant priest, Rev Fr Paul Ebiju.
Mr Okello appealed to the Local Council leadership in the region to talk to their people so that the wrangles are settled out of court.
Mr John Olupo, the chairperson of Madera Parish Council, said almost all unsurveyed land belonging to churches and schools in the diocese have been threatened.
Mr Paul Omer, the mayor of Soroti Municipality, said greed is the reason as to why some people want to sell church land.

Land surveying
He called for survey of all the institutional land across the entire region as a safety measure.
“Once the land has been surveyed, even those with ill motives will not have access to it,” he said.
Mr Omer cautioned the wealthy members of the public from duping the poor people in order to access their land.

Land
Other land grabbing incidents. In July 2017, Lands minister Betty Amongi ordered Soroti University taskforce to stop antagonising the neighbouring community.
Ms Amongi accused the Soroti University administration of seeking to own private land which does not belong to government instead of building the infrastructure on the already existing government land.

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