Land issue:sharon's blog

[[Peace and War]]

Uganda: The land issue will cause war.

The Uganda peoples congress has on several occasions warned against the NRM's policy  of land grabbing .It has in some instances been done directly by the Government while in most instances it has been done through government sponsored squatters,occupants,"purchasers" and more recently by the marauding Balaalo.

This land grabbing has taken the form of squatters being armed to take over the UPC-built public ranches in Buruli,Singo,Masaka and Ankole.Later the Government moved in to regularise this grand theft and despoliation through the Ranches restructuring scheme.Later public land which was part of Lake Mburo National park was grabbed to form an exclusive settlement for some privileged Ugandans of a known ethnicity.

The government then subsequently sponsored Balaaalo of unknown origin who have hundreds of cattle to forcibly settle on land in queen Elizabeth national park,Busongora,Buliisa,Kiboga,Masind,Apac,Arua,Pallisa,Kumi and other areas.

All  these Balaalo land takeovers have been accompanied by ugly incidents of violence against the owners of the land.Government has never prosecuted any of the Balaalo for their acts of 
violence.

Instead ,the government,like it did for the hooligans who invaded and destroyed people's ranches,has moved to amend the law to make it difficult for courts of law to make orders of eviction against illegal occupants,the new land bill is in the offing.

UPC has received information that huge chunks of land in Amuru District are being forcibly surveyed by men and women in military uniform.Apparently this is the land slated to be given out free of charge to the famous sugarcane growers "investors." part of the scheme to grab both private and public land is the systematic destruction of survey and land administration registration records

This has enable the frudulent creation of new "certificates of titles" while the gunuine ones are being destroyed.Even public institutions that were previously jeolously protected,like Makerere University,Mulago Hospital,BUtabikaHospital,public schools and protected reserves have not been spared.

Faced with lack of protection from the government and apparent encouragement of the illegal land seizures,people have been left with no alternative but to resort to self help.This self help is fast degenerating into violence.Only a few days ago the press reported an incident in Apac where a community was forced to resort to cutting into pieces the herds of the Balaalo,The Government response was to beat up whiever they came across.
No amount pf state violence will stop land owners from challenging this illegality.Government's violent response will simply aggravate the problem,which may eventually engulf the country and all of us will be losers.

Writer :Maria Obote
source :Monitor /through gooogle
so to create peace the Government should not sideline with the Balaalo but to allocate them in other places say government land,this will help to prevent war in Uganda.

posted by sharon