Cultivators on the disputed Rwehingo land in Kasese district
may take long to takeover there land as ordered by court because the
commissioner of surveys is yet to open the boundaries.
According to the Inspector General of Police Lt. Gen. Kale
Kayihura, it was wrong for the Kasese district Chairman to lead the farmers to
the land before all the procedures following the court ruling are finalized.
Ten people sustained injuries when Basongora clashed with
Bakonzo as the former descended on the 2050 acre land to prepare for the new
cultivation season.
High court sitting in Fort Portal early May ruled in favour
of the 284 cultivators who had sued government for giving out their land to
Basongora who were repatriated from Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.
High Court judge Owiny Dolo ordered the commissioner of
surveys to open the Lokeris line as the recognized boundary between the land
occupied by the Basongora and that for the cultivators.
He also awarded twelve million shillings as punitive and
general damages to each of the 284 cultivators in relation to the suit and
wasted seasons.
According to Kayihura, the farmers were not supposed to repossess
the land before a court order is issued to the Basongora who were basing on
government defense over the case to take the land.
He said that Basongora elders told him they have never seen
the court judgment and neither did they receive a government official to brief
them.
When asked, the
cultivators lawyer Chan Masereka said Justice Owiny Dolo had not yet signed the
court order after he was transferred to the anti-terrorism section of the high
court.
The IGP has ordered that no one should use the land before
the commissioner of surveys opens the boundaries as ordered by court.
Kasese district chairman Lt. Col.Mawa Muhindo was reportedly
asked to apologize for leading the farmers to start digging the land without following
the legal procedures, which he did.
Kayihura has been in the district for the second time this
month to attend on the conflict between Bakonzo and Basongora following the
installation of Busongora King Rwigi IV Ivan Bwebale.
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