SG Todwong accused of attempt to grab Apaa during NRM register exercise

Adjumani, (UG):- The Adjumani LC5 District Chairman, Mr Anyama Ben has lashed at the NRM Secretary General (SG) Rt. Hon Richard Todwong accusing him of acting ultra-vires after sanctioning the registration of NRM Members in the contested Apaa area which lies in East Madi Wild Life Reserve.

Mr. Anyama claims in the recently concluded NRM membership registration, Mr Todwong has sanctioned the registration of party members in the Apaa area where 13.000 members were registered in 18 parishes and 37 villages.

“I want to advise Mr. Todwong to withdraw his registration books tear them into pieces, dissolve them in a glass of water, and drink them as the people in Adjumani will not allow any voting to take place in Apaa and if you insist, we shall defend our land to the last drop of blood”. Mr Anyama stated.

Addressing journalists in his offices in Adjumani on Tuesday, April 9, 2022, Mr Anyama said the scheme is part of the master plan of Acholi leaders in their nefarious attempt to forcefully annex Apaa land to Amuru district which he stresses will be dealt with in the harshest manner it deserves.

“Let me apprise government that the leaders in Acholi have exasperated our endurance for a long time basically because we are peace-loving and law-abiding people but we shall not tolerate the extended arrogance of the likes of Mr. Todwong”.

”Gestures such this presuppose a state of buoyancy since one of the roles of a leader is to defend the subjects from acts of injustices which the Acholi leaders are meeting against the Madi society”.

Mr Anyama further said that the decision of Todwong is an insult to the Madi leaders and leadership of NRM because the secretary-general has absolutely no powers to create even a village and how come he assumes the responsibility of local government and parliament hence unlawfully creating a whole sub-county with 18 parishes and 37, villages?

Meanwhile, the soft-spoken Adjumani District NRM Chairman, who doubles as district speaker Mr Oloya Jackson speaking to DailyExpress denied any knowledge of the NRM Membership registration in Apaa and held that there is no sub-county in Adjumani called Apaa that has 18 parishes and 37 villages besides Adjumani district council offered the area for nature conservation in 2002.

“The SG could not pick up my repeated telephone calls seeking clarification, am however totally disappointed because it appears his action is related to grabbing Apaa land, not politics otherwise why would he register people who have come to Apaa to destroy nature, cut trees for timber and charcoal and hunt the wild game?” Mr Oloya wondered.

He said since SG has now placed himself in the center of the Apaa land conflict he should expect copiously long-drawn-out defiance from NRM leaders in Adjumani and West Nile because they will never cooperate with selfish and arrogant leaders whose actions are reprehensible.

The Adjumani RDC Mr. Taban Data Peter said his office acted upon information that some people were carrying out registration in the reserve but when he ordered their arrest of the officers involved in the exercise, he received a telephone call from the NRM secretariate instructing him to back off.

He divulged that the officer who called from the office of SG informed him that the arrangement was resolved by a higher office and advised him to act slowly and allow the process to continue because Apaa and another place in Tororo are two areas under special treatment in the registration process.

The local council III chairman of Itirikwa sub-county Mr. Iranya Jesus said he does not understand where the 18, parishes and 37 villages in the purported Apaa sub-county came from otherwise the villages neighbouring East Madi Reserve are Aliwara and Gbayi which are located in Zoka and Gbayi parishes.

Mr. Iranya feigned ignorance on the registration exercise because the purported 13.000 members are from the Acholi and Bantu communities from Western, Central, and Eastern Uganda who are illegal settlers in the reserve.

The Chief of the Alli clan Opi Chandiga Ben said he was not alerted on the NRM registration exercise that took place in his land which is part of the game reserve but if indeed the place has been degazetted for human settlement then he will mobilize his people and move to reoccupy the land because government has lost interest.

Opi Chandiga Ben held that Mr Todwong is a young man, and he should not allow his elders to make bad use of his NRM SG office to incite conflict between the Acholi and their neighbors’ Madis who have coexisted for over a century and if he wants history to vindicate him, he must back off because land matters leave scars that turn out to be irreversible for generations.

Mr Todwong could neither answer nor return telephone calls seeking a comment nor could he respond to several WhatsApp messages in quest of the same.