Museveni assures Teso on land
Aug 18, 2008
The Land Amendment Bill is not meant to grab Teso land, President Yoweri Museveni told a rally in Amuria yesterday.
By Milton Olupot
in Amuria
The Land Amendment Bill is not meant to grab Teso land, President Yoweri Museveni told a rally in Amuria yesterday.
The Bill, he said, was meant to protect them from landlords who were given land by colonialists.
He said the land was taken away from the original owners who have now turned into squatters. “This is the issue we are trying to put right. The Land Bill has no threat at all.â€
Earlier, the Amuria district chairman, Julius Ocen, had asked the President at Okao Primary School if the Bill would not endanger customary land tenure which is dominant in the region.
“There is no way customary land owners can be affected because the Constitution protects your land. The Constitution is supreme to the Land Bill. So, there is nothing to worry about,†said Museveni.
Museveni is touring Teso region to sensitise people about the Prosperity For All programme.
The Government, he said, would facilitate the local population to start farming projects to get rid of poverty.
Museveni inspected farming projects, including a model 10-pond fish farm in Amuria owned by Ali Alias Ajaru.
Ajaru told the President that he expected to earn sh34m when he harvests the fish in four months.
Museveni donated a pickup truck to Ajaru and instructed the National Agricultural and Advisory Services (NAADS) to help him expand his farm.
The President dismissed Ocen’s claims that Teso was marginalised. Instead, Museveni said, Teso had benefited from the Universal Primary Education programme and other projects.
“In Teso, we have built schools more than any other Government has done before. What kind of marginalisation are you talking about?†he asked.
The Government, he said, had a lot to offer to the region but patience was needed. “I am not God or a magician. The things we do, we do them through sweat. We are moving step by step. A child cannot be born today and it competes in the Olympics tomorrow.â€
Disaster preparedness state minister Musa Ecweru explained that the Government had earmarked sh6b to combat food shortages in the region due to the floods that affected the area recently.
The district NRM chairperson, Francis Oluma, presented 205 FDC supporters who crossed to NRM.
The LC5 chairman Ocen presented a memorandum to the President, asking for compensation to relatives of Arrow Boys who lost their lives in the LRA war.
Ocen also told the President that a number of Arrow Boys were still waiting for salary arrears, which he urged the Government to clear at once.
He also asked for compensation to families of people who were killed by misguided bombs in Amuria by the UPDF helicopter.
Before the President’s speech, a scuffle almost ensued when the Amuria Woman MP Rhoda Acen (FDC) refused to leave the podium for the President despite pleas from Ecweru.
When the President’s public address system, mounted on a pickup truck, was driven in, the President moved forward. In the meantime, Ecweru and Acen were exchanging hot words. Elsewhere on his tour of the region, FDC members gave Museveni a warm welcome. The President is expected to visit Kaberamaido today.
in Amuria
The Land Amendment Bill is not meant to grab Teso land, President Yoweri Museveni told a rally in Amuria yesterday.
The Bill, he said, was meant to protect them from landlords who were given land by colonialists.
He said the land was taken away from the original owners who have now turned into squatters. “This is the issue we are trying to put right. The Land Bill has no threat at all.â€
Earlier, the Amuria district chairman, Julius Ocen, had asked the President at Okao Primary School if the Bill would not endanger customary land tenure which is dominant in the region.
“There is no way customary land owners can be affected because the Constitution protects your land. The Constitution is supreme to the Land Bill. So, there is nothing to worry about,†said Museveni.
Museveni is touring Teso region to sensitise people about the Prosperity For All programme.
The Government, he said, would facilitate the local population to start farming projects to get rid of poverty.
Museveni inspected farming projects, including a model 10-pond fish farm in Amuria owned by Ali Alias Ajaru.
Ajaru told the President that he expected to earn sh34m when he harvests the fish in four months.
Museveni donated a pickup truck to Ajaru and instructed the National Agricultural and Advisory Services (NAADS) to help him expand his farm.
The President dismissed Ocen’s claims that Teso was marginalised. Instead, Museveni said, Teso had benefited from the Universal Primary Education programme and other projects.
“In Teso, we have built schools more than any other Government has done before. What kind of marginalisation are you talking about?†he asked.
The Government, he said, had a lot to offer to the region but patience was needed. “I am not God or a magician. The things we do, we do them through sweat. We are moving step by step. A child cannot be born today and it competes in the Olympics tomorrow.â€
Disaster preparedness state minister Musa Ecweru explained that the Government had earmarked sh6b to combat food shortages in the region due to the floods that affected the area recently.
The district NRM chairperson, Francis Oluma, presented 205 FDC supporters who crossed to NRM.
The LC5 chairman Ocen presented a memorandum to the President, asking for compensation to relatives of Arrow Boys who lost their lives in the LRA war.
Ocen also told the President that a number of Arrow Boys were still waiting for salary arrears, which he urged the Government to clear at once.
He also asked for compensation to families of people who were killed by misguided bombs in Amuria by the UPDF helicopter.
Before the President’s speech, a scuffle almost ensued when the Amuria Woman MP Rhoda Acen (FDC) refused to leave the podium for the President despite pleas from Ecweru.
When the President’s public address system, mounted on a pickup truck, was driven in, the President moved forward. In the meantime, Ecweru and Acen were exchanging hot words. Elsewhere on his tour of the region, FDC members gave Museveni a warm welcome. The President is expected to visit Kaberamaido today.