3,000 Soroti residents face eviction

By Dan Opolot

Over 3,000 people living in Kichinjaji suburb in Soroti municipality are at a risk of being evicted from their current location.

This follows a Court declaration of land ownership by Papharas Imodot Edimu signed by the Magistrate/Commissioner for oath, Soroti.

Imodot is one of the respected elders in Teso and also doubles the chairman of Iteso Cultural Union (ICU) founder body.

A copy of the declaration obtained by New Vision sates that Imodot owns 115 acres of land in Usuk, Alyabu and cells A and B in Kichinjaji suburb in Soroti Municipality.

“My aforementioned 115 acres of land is now home to over 3,000 people,” reads the Court declaration in part.

Also affected is a 20-acre eucalyptus tree plantation reserve located in Alyabu near Usuk cell.

In an interview with New Vision, Imodot said that he bought the 95 acres of the land at 800,000 shillings on November 12, 1988 from Mutaliya Asuman, the son of Abraham Mutaliya.

“The other 20 acres had earlier been given to me as a gift by Abraham Mutaliya who was a good friend of mine in 1969,” Imodot explained.

“Due to the exodus of people from rural to urban centers during the insurgencies in Teso sub-county, my aforementioned acres of land fell under occupation by internally displaced persons (IDPS) as camps,” he observed.

Imodot noted that since the restoration of peace in the region and the subsequent closure of the IDP camps, some IDPs returned but others refused to leave and they are the ones now purporting to be owners of the land in question.

However, some of the people living in the contested land have vowed never to leave, saying that the land belongs to them.

Akuret Magdalene, aged 56 says she has now spent 15 years living in the Usuk cell land and has nowhere to go.

“This is where I call home and where does he (Imodot) expect me to go?” Akuret wondered.

19-year old Samuel Ocan says he was born in Alyabu cell and he is uncertain of where to go if they are ordered to leave.

Papharas Imodot says he will use the courts of law to recover his land from what he called “defiant squatters”.

When contacted, the Town Clerk Soroti municipality, Richard Monday, said that he could not comment on the issue, saying that he did not have details of the story.