BY JOACKIM KULE MUHESI
Leaders from Kasese district have publicly revealed that the Office of the Prime Minister did not involve them in the procurement process of a piece of land that government claims to have bought for the flood victims who are currently encamped at a temporarily established camp on Muhokya Town Council.
In 2022, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja ordered the Minister of Luweero-Rwenzori Affairs and local leaders from Kasese to identify land on which to resettle the people who were displaced by the floods that befell most parts of the district when some major rivers streaming from the Rwenzori Mountains burst their banks in 2020.
After some time, some of the leaders from Kasese announced that government had identified more than 200 acres of land on Bwenanule Cell, Muhokya Town Council. They revealed that government had started the process of negotiating with the Landlords for a possible payment.
However, issues related to the ownership of the said land came up with the current occupants seeking legal redress, arguing that it was their ancestral land while another group claimed that it had legitimate documents showing ownership.
During a meeting with the Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hon. Lillian Aber with the leaders and other stakeholders today at the district headquarters, the local leaders openly denied any involvement in identifying land and its procurement processes.
Lt. Joe Walusimbi, the Kasese Resident District Commissioner said that the officials from the Office of the Prime Minister involved neither his office nor some local government leaders in the procurement process and hence transacted on a questioned piece of land.
The RDC described the time that the flood victims had spent in the camp as a timed bomb following the challenges that they are going through.
The Kasese District Vice Chairperson, Mr. Jerevesious Monday Bwambale explained that government mistakenly bought land that was not leased by the one who sold it, something that prompted the people currently settling on it to petition courts of law.
Muhokya Internally Displaced Camp Chairperson, Ms Rehema Aryema in her written report to the Minister highlighted the critical need for the victims to be resettled.
She revealed that for the last five years, they have been grappling with accommodation challenges, poverty and some social challenges, calling for an immediate action by the government.
In her response, Minister Aber sympathized with the camp occupants, pledging to report their grievances to the President for an immediate and permanent solution.
She assured the leaders that the government would do what is takes to ensure that the people obtain land.
ENDS