Cabinet To Study Kibaale

Mar 13, 2002

THE Cabinet has set up a high level committee to probe the mounting ethnic tension and violent clashes in Kibaale and other areas of the country.

BY John Kakande and Felix Osike THE Cabinet has set up a high level committee to probe the mounting ethnic tension and violent clashes in Kibaale and other areas of the country.The move was expressly initiated by President Yoweri Museveni.Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, the minister for the presidency, announced the establishment of the committee yesterday during a ministerial statement to the House. He said the committee, which is headed by Dr Crispus Kiyonga, the National Political Commissar, was set up on February 21 following a decision taken at a special Cabinet meeting chaired by Museveni on February 20. It has six weeks to submit its report to the President.“His Excellency the President has learned about these tensions among Ugandans with dismay especially at this time when we all want unity among our people,” Bukenya told the House.The other members of the committee are the economic monitoring state minister Omwony Ojwok and MPs Mary Amajo Oriokot (Kaberamaido) and Beatrice Magoola Zirabamuzaale (Iganga).Bukenya’s statement drew an angry reaction from the Banyoro MPs protesting about the plight of the Banyoro in Kibaale District and deployment of heavily armed UPDF soldiers in the area. Several MPs from across the country said ethnic tension was mounting in many parts of the country, particularly Kyenjojo, Masindi, Kabarole, Sironko, Kapchorwa and West Nile.Bintu Abwoli Lukumu (Masindi), angrily asked Bukenya: “What is the army doing in Kibaale with the helicopter? Why are there roadblocks?”Ignatius Besisira (Buyaga) asked: “When are the people of Kibaale going to get back their land?” He said the army was “beating up my poor Banyoro” whose only crime was to let in the Bakiga to settle in Kibaale.“Our crime was to allow other people to settle among us,” Besisira charged before he was cut short by the Speaker, Edward Ssekandi. Bukenya said during the Cabinet meeting, Museveni proposed the setting up of the committee “to inquire into the sensitive and tense political developments currently simmering in Kibaale and other areas of Uganda.”The committee was tasked to inquire into the “pattern and policies, if any, that have governed resettlement programmes and to demonstrate the effect of the pattern of resettlement on the original inhabitants of the area.”It will further inquire into the causes of the social tensions between the indigenous inhabitants and settlers.Kiyonga’s committee is tasked to “highlight the major features of the recently-concluded elections and how it was influenced, if so, by ethnic considerations.”“When the committee finishes its work and submits its recommendations, the Government will implement these recommendations speedily to arrest any further tensions that could further disrupt the lives of our citizens,” Bukenya said. He said Museveni was “keenly following developments in these areas.” Jack Sabiiti (Rukiga), however, defended the Bakiga in Kibaale. He said they were settled elsewhere before they were displaced and taken to Kibaale with promises of land. “They were told that the owners of the land would be compensated,” he observed.James Nsaba Buturo (Bufumbira East) argued that the Government took too long to respond to media reports about the ethnic clashes. Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri) queried the legality of the probe committee while John Odit (Erute) said the committee’s membership was ‘skewed’.Dr Okullo Epak (Oyam South) asked Bukenya if the appointment of the committee was a vote of no confidence in local government minister Bidandi Ssali and internal affairs chief Eriya Kategaya. Bukenya said Museveni’s intervention only underscored the magnitude of the problem.Ends

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