Tororo RDC declines to sign a land eviction order.

 

Tororo Resident District Commissioner, Hajji Sadik Bategana has declined to sign an eviction court order forwarded to his office for approval. 

 According to Bategana, the eviction order has been lying in his office since and was left behind by his predecessor, Nickson Owole.

 He says the order seeks to evict two extended families constituting hundreds of people from Amoni ‘’A’’ cell Asinge Ward Malaba Town Council Tororo district. 

 Mass evictions have become an issue of concern in many parts of the country and normally when court issues an eviction order, it is forwarded to different security offices including the Resident District Commissioner-RDC, Regional Police Commander-RPC and District Police Commander-DPC for endorsement and confirmation that they are aware of the eviction and provide the necessary security to the bailiffs before it is implemented. 

 He says he declined to endorse the court order after receiving a directive from state house as head of security in the district requesting his office to halt the eviction and go ahead to institute a fact finding process on a contested 3.2 acre land where two brothers; Japel Etyang 72 years and his brother Anthony Oisre 62 years.

 During a fact finding meeting he held with the aggrieved parties at the town council offices yesterday, Bategana said the intervention follows complaints filed before State House by the two affected families and local leaders who claim that the proposed eviction is uncalled for because the two threatened families are genuine owners of the contested piece of land.

 He revealed that a number of court bailiffs have been calling and individually paying visits to his office since last week to endorse their eviction court orders but he stood by the directive.

 Bategana advised communities to develop consciousness when buying land adding that some of the people selling land are not honest especially after realizing that they have addressed the challenges that could have forced them to dispose off their land.

 At the meeting, it was heard that Ejakait sold the contested piece of land in Amoni "A" Cell Asinge Ward Malaba Town Council in 2009 to two brothers after committing a criminal offence that forced him to flee the country.

 Ejakait reported sprayed the cows of his neighbor with Sulphuric Acid that led to curing of the skins and later died but from his hideout, he reportedly delegated his spouse Amoit Linet to sell the land on his behalf to help compensate the animals that died and that the balance would help them buy land elsewhere and settle.

 Tensions however reportedly rose when security personnel started terrorizing the two families attempting to enforce the eviction, prompting local protests and appeals to national authorities.