Land conflict: Over 600 face eviction in Gulu City  

GULU – Over 600 people in Gulu City could be kicked from a contested piece of land following the recent issuance of an eviction order against them.

The eviction order relates to Civil Case No. 001 of 2013 heard in Gulu Magistrates Court where Richard Mundugu had dragged one Doreen Angee for illegally acquiring a letter of administration to manage the estate of his late father.

Mudungu told prosecution that the defendant [Angee] purported to be the daughter of his late father Alfred Vini who died in 1994.

In 2005, Angee claimed she was a biological daughter of the deceased and obtained a letter of administration that gave her custody of the contested land.

The contested land is located between Alokolum Road and Ring Road in Pabo Quarters, Bardege Layibi Division in Gulu City and more than 600 residents living on it.

Evidence provided in court revealed that the defendant was not a biological daughter to Vini, even though her mother was his wife. Angee’s mother also passed on.

The court document also revealed that Angee started selling off the land to the community after she illegally obtained the letter of administration.

In his testimony, Mudungu told court that his late father and three siblings died, leaving him as the only survivor in the family.

Mudungu, a UPDF soldier, said Angee fraudulently sold part of the land while he was on a foreign mission in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The contested land was reportedly acquired in 1940 by one Vini from the former Acholi District Council in Layibi Division.

The judgement of 2016 by the then Chief Magistrate Paul Owino gave the plaintiff the rightful ownership of the contested land and directed that those in possession of the land should vacate.

Court had also issued an injunction of any activity in the contested land in March 2023 and directed that all the property established in the contested land be removed within 30 days.

However, the LC1 of Pabo Quarters, the affected area Thomas Raymond Opira alleged the claimant had encroached into other land with 30 more plots as opposed to 4 plots of land in the judgement.

He noted that several people who bought land in the area will be affected by the decision which he says has gone beyond the court jurisdiction.

Lillian Aciro, one of the affected persons says that she had bought a plot of land in 1994 worth Shs 450,000 in the area from one Agustino Olum and had lived on it for over 30 years without problem.

The resident city commissioner, Gulu Jane Frances Okili disclosed on Monday in an interview with this reporter that she had already summoned the conflicted parties for a mediation meeting.

“We want to narrow the evictions. There are those who have bought land from the caretakers of the land and those who didn’t pay anything but they have lived on it for a long time,” Okili said.

She said some people shall be compensated before the eviction order is executed.

https://thecooperator.news/apaa-land-conflict-adjumani-leaders-promise-to-fight-on/

Buy your copy of thecooperator magazine from one of our country-wide vending points or an e-copy on emag.thecooperator.news