[allAfrica.com]  [Christian_Science_Monitor]


Govt Criticised On Kasese Land Rows

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
July 28, 2004
Posted to the web July 28, 2004

By John Thawite
Kampala
KASESE district chairman has blamed continued land clashes in the district on
the Government's sluggishness and on colonialism.
Yokasi Bihande also attributed the conflicts to the presence of national parks,
insecurity, a rapidly growing population and backward economic activities.
Bihande was on Wednesday commenting on the July 1 clashes in which cattle-
keepers and cultivators fought over the ownership of 2,000 hectares of the
land, which the Government recently de-gazetted from the Hima Army Production
Farm.
By the time armed UPDF soldiers and the Police intervened, at least 20 head of
cattle and a dog had been killed, 33 cattle injured and 20 huts burnt in
Kayanja and Bigando villages.
Bihande told the press that the residents had taken advantage of the
Government's failure to hand over the land to local authorities.
He attacked colonialists for having deprived the district of land by protecting
about two-thirds of the land in Queen Elizabeth, Kibaale and Rwenzori Mountains
National parks.

   

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