Iteso cultural leader cited in land dispute

By Reuben Olita in NairobiTHE Iteso cultural leader, Augustine Osuban, has been implicated in the current boundary dispute between the Iteso and the Luhya of Bungoma and Busia in Kenya.The Daily Nation recently quoted elders from Nambale Constituency, Busia district of Kenya, claiming that a plot had been hatched by a clandestine group to start tribal clashes between the Luhya and their Iteso neighbours.The group is led by some Kenyan politicians and a Ugandan ‘king’. The council of elders led by their chairman, Edward Sifuma, said the group had threatened the Luhya that they either recognise the new boundary changes or be evicted.Last Friday, the Daily Nation in its commentary, said the Iteso celebrated the return of six sub-locations from Bungoma and Busia by throwing a major party on Boxing Day in which the area MP, Albert Ekirapa, hosted Emorimori Papa Iteso, the cultural head of the Iteso in East Africa, who is a Ugandan. The Iteso made a three-pronged approach to the land equation, the paper said.Emorimori’s three-day visit to Kenya was courtesy of the Kenya chapter chairman, George Ochokolo. He was invited to grace his subjects’ cultural festival at Amagoro Primary School. In his speech the Emorimori never touched on any issue regarding the boundary issue.