ADJUMANI, UGANDA: The terrestrial February 20, 2023, Kaunda grounds declaration on Apaa by President Yoweri Museveni during a public rally in Kaunda grounds in Gulu city that overturned the eviction proclamation of the Hon Prime Minster Robina Nabanja constructed on the decision of the cabinet calling for the eviction of the illegal settlers in Apaa will haunt the president.
The security chiefs and the Administration of Adjumani district local government are in acute dilemma as they have not received written instruction from the president following the Kaunda ground declaration calling for judicial Commission of Inquiry into Apaa land conflict in favor of the cabinet decision of eviction which was deemed a long-lasting resolve.
On the contrary leaders in Madi have rejected the call of the president for the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the obvious reason that Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mr Nobert Mao are interested parties in Apaa land conflict.
The community in Ngoro East, Zoka settlement area, in Aliwara village, Mungula parish in Itirikwa subcounty which borders East Madi Wild Life Reserve (EMWLR) have cried foul accusing UPDF command in Zoka C garrison (barracks) of unlawful and forceful eviction from their land which is not even part of government conservation area where Apaa is located.
The chairman of the area Angu James has said the UPDF soldiers commanded by Ngoro East detach commander Corporal George Ojuku started enforcing an illegal eviction exercise on March 14, 2023, on orders from Mr Owor Francis LC1 chairman Apaa and Mr Abiriga Kapricos Alima a self-styled UPDF coordinator of intelligence in Apaa is claiming ownership of the land which is not part of Apaa disputed land.
Mr Angu James said a number of households who have settled in the area with full permission from the Ali chiefdom officials is 72, but Mr Abiriga Kapricos Alima claims the land in question has been sold to an Indian businessman and demanded that they vacate or face forceful eviction.
“Indeed, the UPDF 71st battalion commander Major Trevor Kibuuka and the Indian tycoon whose identity couldn’t be readily availed have been frequenting the land measuring about 300 hectares which is part of the settlement area in Ngoro East”. Mr Angu James disclosed.
Narrating his ordeal, one of the victims of the irregular eviction Pastor, Ceacer Mamgbwi said on March 14, 2023, as they were erecting a makeshift shelter, the UPDF, soldiers stormed his compound in the company of dozens of members of Acholi community and started looting his household properties majorly cooking utensils, farm implements and foodstuffs.
Pastor Ceasar Mamgbwi further narrates that when he inquired from Corporal George Ojuku why the soldiers were ransacking his property, he inappropriately reacted by ordering the soldiers who were also armed with sticks to beat them and the indiscriminate whipping drove them in disarray.
“Thirty minutes later, we saw a thick white smoke above the compound followed by huge balls of fire, our houses were reduced to cedars when we checked after an hour and nothing was left of the arson”.
Mr. Anyanzo Dominic who suffered equal fate in the hands of the soldiers and the members of Acholi community said, Abriga personally told him, that the land we were occupying has been sold to an Indian and they were therefore occupying the land illegally while directing him to inform all the settlers to vacate or else they will be arrested and detained in Makindye military barracks in Kampala.
Three of the victims of similar UPDF-backed raids have registered complaints of arson and malicious damage to property at Zoka central police station, one of them registered his case under SD REF 06/14/02/2023 and SD REF02/16/03/2023 respectively but the police have not notified the complaints on the progress of investigations.
Between February and early March, the Indian who was in the company of the UPDF 71st battalion commander in Zoka C barracks, Major Trevor Kibuuka regularly checked the area driving around belligerently and antagonistically but they did not hold public consultation.
Mr. Abiriga a self-styled UPDF intelligence coordinator who gets full protection from the UPDF command in Zoka C battalion have been transporting people and delivering them in parts of Molokodi and Apaa junction in Fuso Trucks and the people who speak fluent Acholi dialect claim they were ferried from Kitgum and Lamwo.
Ngoro East settlement area is approximately 11 kilometers from Amuru Adjumani border and 3 kilometers from Apaa trading center and lies on the bank of River Gorobi which is outside Wild Life protected area it belongs to the Ali clan under the leadership of Ali clan chief Chandiga Ben.
In an exclusive interview with DailyExpress at his palace on April 4, 2023, The Ali Clan Chief Chandiga Ben said he has sadly received all the information relating to the suffering of his subjects in the hands of government officers who are aided by some unscrupulous elements from Acholi community.
“Let me sound this warning to the land fraudsters’ who think they can use the powerful laws from a non-existent constitution called orders from above to grab land in my chiefdom that they are fighting a losing battle because the Ali clan has existed from time immemorial but these powerful commanders UPDF field commanders and their cohorts’ might end with the current regime”.
Chief Chandiga Ben who appeared flagger basted said his chiefdom is aware that some powerful individuals in Acholi are using their agents to execute land deals without reference to him which he says is risky because they will never possess any land in Ali chiefdom without his approval.
He said some Acholi individuals used Mr Ojara Christopher an affluent businessman from Amuru district who irregularly acquired over 800 hectares of land with false support from UPDF commanders in the area but justice is now prevailing, because he started using Acholi youth gangs to kill anyone was found cultivating on the land, he was subsequently arrested and charged with murder he is right now in jail away from the civilized society.
The UPDF Fourth Division public relations officer Lt. Musinguzi Emmanuel when contacted today April 5, 2023, feigned unfamiliarity with the matter and referred our reporter to the division commander Brig Gen Bonny Bamwesaki for details.
The UPDF 71st battalion commander in Zoka C barracks Major Trevor Kibuuka is the most feared military commander in the entire Apaa area, he claims he is on state house mission to pacify Apaa area, but to the contrary, he has been closely linked to lumbering and logging in Zoka central forest reserve and illegal charcoal trade.
“Major, Trevor Kibuuka is ruthless and fierce he doesn’t cooperate with the authority in Adjumani district and has a final say on land matter in the area and portrays the public land in Zoka as if it is part of government gazetted land where conflict infested Apaa lies. He is living the life of a prince, heavily escorted like a warlord, he spends his time in Dubai resort, a behind-the-scenes hotel located in the outskirt of Adjumani town”.
The fierce UPDF battalion commander has variously been implicated in irregular land deals in Molokodi, Ngoro West and Ngoro East settlement areas where he enforces irregular eviction to secure the land for illegitimate buyers.
In the contested Apaa land which is in a gazetted area and occupied by illegal settlers, the rate of illegal sale of land allegedly backed by Major Trevor Kibuuka is on the rise and the unsuspecting buyers are from central, Western and Eastern regions of Uganda, evidenced by the mushrooming decent commercial buildings and a petrol station.
East Madi Wild Life Reserve (EMWLR) was curved out of East Madi Controlled Hunting area covering 827 kilometres of land in 2002, it houses Zoka Central Forest Reserve which is 6.145 hectares, and the massive Wild Life Reserve reserve is located in Itirikwa and Ukusijoni Sub Counties.
Apaa contested area is located 8 kilometers inside Adjumani district and covers about 5 square kilometers, the leaders of Acholi want it gazetted for human settlement but Madi leaders instead desires the place revert back to the district local government and will then determine the best land use.
All avenues for resolving the Apaa land conflict have been exhausted, the leaders in Acholi don’t dispute that Apaa is in Adjumani district, but they want the illegal settlers to permanently possess the land even when the land belongs to the clans of Ali and Pajau in Adjumani district.
A legal expert here contents that Article 237 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda states that, all land in Uganda is vested in the citizens of Uganda and shall be owned in accordance with the following land tenure systems; Customery, Freehold, Mailo and Leasehold.
He additionally articulates that whereas every citizen has a constitutional right to stay in any part of the country, he or she can do so within the confines of the law and as prescribed in the land tenure system, the claim by some Acholi leaders regarding the same without entering into an agreement with the land owners is therefore irregular.
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