Political leaders in Kikuube have joined their voices urging the government to expedite handling land issues affecting the residents in the district.
During a meeting convened at Nyairongo primary school in Kabwoya Sub-county, Kikuube District yesterday all leaders said the residents are living in fear of being evicted from their land.
The Nyairongo Village Chairman, Desire Nkurunziza, wondered that despite government pledges to offer free land titles to the residents, until now, it has never effected it.
He also urged the relevant higher authorities to go to the ground and mark clear boundaries between huge companies operating in the area and residents for the latter to live without fear that they could be evicted from their land.
The Kikuube district aspiring woman Member of Parliament, Florence Natumanya, called upon the higher authorities to consider the people of Kikuube so they can have full ownership on their land by offering them free land titles and certificates of land to confirm their possession.
She said there are many illegal land titles that were processed and acquired by certain moguls to the district asking government to nullify them. She also called for compensation once an eviction is carried out.
Ms Natumanya advised that land and forests in Bunyoro need to be protected from grabbers given the oil and gas resource in the region. She said if taken casually, such grabs could result in environmental and health problems to the residents and the entire country.
The Buhaguzi County Member of Parliament in Kikuube district, Dan Muhairwe Mpamizo, urged political leaders in the area to join efforts against land grabbers in the area adding that residents are unsettled following land grabbing tendencies by certain magnates.
He advised that if possible, government should compensate tycoons using monies from the Land Fund vowing to resort to courts of law to deal with land grabbers in case the matter is not worked on.
The aspiring LC 5 Chairman, Peter Banura, advised the people of Kikuube whose land is yet to be grabbed to process legal land titles immediately as a guarantee of ownership.
He urged government to reduce on the costs involved in processing and acquiring land titles to enable affordability for anyone in need of acquiring a title genuinely.
Speaking during the same meeting, the Kikuube Residents District Commissioner (RDC), Richard Tabaaro, told the residents that government is aware of the land problems in Bunyoro promising that all land titles which were illegally offered to tycoons in the district will be cancelled.
He also said that government has already cancelled some land titles that were acquired not in conformity with the law.
The RDC advised the affected people of Kikuube to use courts of law in solving their land problems warning them against fighting which can result in bloodshed.
Mr Tabaro said the government is ready to cooperate with the people of Kikuube in processing legal land titles so as to do away with land grabbing and eviction in the district.
