Ediofe Cathedral land Case To Come Up For Cross-Examination Next Month

ARUA. The land case between Arua Catholic Diocese and the three clans of Andruvu, Komite and Oruvu commonly referred to as AKO community in Ayivu Division, Arua City, is slated to come up for cross examination on May 28, 2025.

This is after several efforts made to have the matter resolved outside court hit a snag. The two parties are now expected to appear before the High Court Judge of Arua to answer questions related to the land.

At least 400 Christians then dragged the Church to Arua High Court in 2017 demanding for rent arrears for the 200 acres of land on which Ediofe Cathedral, the headquarters of Arua Catholic Diocese is also sitting.

In the civil suit number 0016 of 2017, the Christians said the land in question was leased to Catholic Italian Missionaries by their grandparents in 1920 for a period of 99 years which expired on January 31, 2019.

But after several years of hearing and failed mediations, the court has now decided to fix May 28, 2025 for cross-examination so as to finish the witnesses in the matter.

This will be followed by locus visit and subsequent judgement after submissions by the two sides of the lawyers.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, April 17, 2025, Arua Albino, the chairperson of AKO clan, prayed for expeditious hearing of the matter, saying the case has dragged on for long.

“I hope it will be a success because we have the Constitution of Uganda, we have the Land Act which is very straight forward and we are only crying for their implementation, and we are with the hope that the law which keeps Ugandans has to be followed correctly,” Albino said.

He added that: “Worst still, being the customary owners of the 200 acres of land which was leased to the Italians, after the Italians left this place unknowingly without giving back our land, they left the trustees and these are the elites who also took the same documents to court with evidences riming together; talking about lease hold registry for 99 years which has already expired and again, they are denying us, the customary owners the right over our land.”

Albino said as a result, his members have been subjected to a lot of suffering including being ex-communicated from the church and evictions on their customary land among other forms of humiliation.

“A lot of evictions are currently going on; we were the first to be evicted and the time has come for us to go back, and again these people (the diocesan authority) continued to evict the lay helpers who have stayed and served the diocese for long and they are ladies who have been kept without even having husbands and children, old as they are, including the administration of Donadino Institute of Orphanage, evicting all the administrators there among other evictions,” Albino remarked.

He later appealed to the government of Uganda to come to their aid to ensure that justice is served to the suffering community of AKO.

Matia Deli, a member of the AKO community, noted that the majority of their members have now crossed to other denominations because the Catholic church excommunicated them.

He said the locals were tired of burying their own, giving birth to children who die without baptism, a reason many have now joined the Anglican and Islam faith.

“At first, we were burying ourselves because Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki and his administrators banned us from all the sacraments of the church. We were not eating the holy communion, the church was not wedding us, not even baptizing and burying our loved ones. So, we said we better join other denominations if this is the price we are paying for demanding for the renewal of the lease of our ancestral land,” Deli said.

Fedencio Wadri, another affected resident, said they have spent a lot of money following up the case which has been delayed since 2017.

“Our children are now not going to school because the little money we make is being spent on following up the matter. We are suffering on the road, using money on photocopying, transport, feeding and paying our lawyer and this has affected us economically. I pray that this time, the case is expedited so that we can get justice,” Wadri stated.

But in an earlier interview, Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki showed willingness to forgive the aggrieved flock.

Odoki said he is ready to meet and forgive the Christians who were banished from Arua Catholic Diocese for dragging the church to court over the accumulated land lease arrears.

“Let them make arrangements to meet me so that we can talk over the problem, and I’m ready to forgive them,” Odoki said.

“I have nothing against anybody in this Diocese; all those issues being said about me are by people who have not understood how I’m working. I’m here to bring unity, love and blessing,” Odoki added.

However, despite Odoki’s willingness to resolve the matter peacefully, several mediations have failed as the diocese continues evicting some of the Christians on the contested land even before court makes its ruling on the matter.