ARUA LAND ROW: Buyer accused of fencing off disputed land, denying locals access to crops
Part of the contested land which was allegedly fenced off by Kamure
ARUA – A family in Arua District is calling for the intervention of Arua District Security Committee after a land buyer fenced off their food crops and blocked access to a water source.
Members of the family in Biacici village, Ayayia Parish, Ajia Sub-County in Arua District say the court case over the disputed land has not yet been settled between them and the buyer, identified as Alfred Kamure, who was sued for intruding on their land.
According to Wilfred Alini, the head of the affected family, they settled on the land after it was given to his late father as a gift in the 1980s by the father of the people who later sold it.
“The area here was given to my father, Abdinego, by his friend Orubendu Fidensio in 1989. I came to reside in this place in 1990 and that is when I started cultivating here. The area given to us for growing crops was a wide piece of land that I cannot estimate exactly,” Alini Wilfred said.
Friction over the land began after the deaths of the two friends in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The children of the original land giver then started selling portions of the land.
“Before my father died, there was no friction. After that, I took my children for education and I kept coming to this farmland to cultivate. It was not until 2023 that the children of the late Fidensio collectively came to grab the land and sold it to Kamure,” Alini narrated.
While the court case is still pending, the land buyer decided to fence the contested land. In doing so, he fenced off crops belonging to Alini’s children and blocked access to a nearby water source as well as the road that children use to go to school.
Samuel Ondoma, the lawyer representing Alini Wilfred’s family, explained that the buyer created a legal gap by fencing the land before the court had ruled on ownership.
“At Arua High Court, it is Civil Suit No. 21 of 2022. This case is pending before the judge for hearing to determine the true owner of the suit land in Biacici village and also to determine whether Kamure and three others trespassed on our client’s land. The date for the hearing is yet to be fixed. However, we were surprised that Kamure Alfred and three others went and forcefully fenced off the suit land in Biacici village, including all the crops belonging to my clients,” Samuel Ondoma said.
Meanwhile Gore Goffin, the Resident District Commissioner of Arua said the Arua District Security Committee team engaged both parties on the matter. He said the land buyer, Alfred Kamure, was urged to restore access to the people’s crops, the water source, and the road leading children to a nearby school.
“I received a complaint after a security meeting undertaken there to try to reconcile the matter. When I heard that the buyer went and fenced off that place on claims that he has a title for it, and this matter has been reported to the courts of law in Arua, I instructed that there is no reason why people’s food crops and access to water should be fenced off while the matter is still in court until the court disposes of that matter. I heard that it was immediately opened to allow access to food and water,” the RDC said.
He urged communities to follow lawful procedures when acquiring customary land, including pieces of land that were given by ancestors to their friends.
When contacted on phone, the lawyer representing Kamure, Richard Bundu of Bundu and Company Advocates declined to comment on the matter and referred our reporter to Kamure himself.
But Kamure could not respond to the repeated calls made to him for a comment on the allegations.