By Matthew Okello
TORORO
The State Minister for Economic Monitoring, Beatrice Akello has in her second day in Tororo directed the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate further the numerous cases of public land grabbing in Tororo municipality and appropriate measures be taken to curtail the vice.
While meeting different stakeholders at municipal council chambers on Wednesday, 13th March, 2024, majority of the speakers at the meeting raised land related matters as the nightmare of Tororo municipality. This was a day after she directed the same to investigate on the Nyangole hospital land.
Tororo District Resident Commissioner, Nixon Owole told the minister that the major problems security is facing in Tororo municipality are land related.
The RDC noted that there are constant allegations of diverting roads into people’s plots and allocating roads as plots, giving an example of an investor who was allocated Railway land along Tororo-Mbale road where the title has already been issued.
He also told the minister that security is currently investigating the alleged sale of a municipal council dumping site in Mile 4.
The MP also noted that after attempts to fight corruption in Tororo, the corrupt are now threatening to throw him out of Parliament however this will not deter him from fighting.
He also highlighted some stalled projects like construction of hatchery in Datic and construction of a storeyed building at Uganda Cooperative College.
The Tororo district Woman Member of Parliament, Sarah Opendi confirmed that there is a lot of corruption in Tororo municipality just like most local governments in Uganda. She also decried diverting roads into poor people’s land and turning roads into plots.
Other issues raised in the meeting that attracted the minister’s attention included the under-declaration of property rates in Tororo municipality and hiring one firm to take many works in the municipality as raised by David Ofwono Apiaun.
The school management committee of Morukatipe view also brought into the attention of the minister the forceful shifting of the school by municipal officials after it was affected by the Standard Gauge railway and later compensated.
After the meeting, the minister went and monitored several projects including the construction of a stalled multi-purpose building at Uganda Cooperative College where timbers are currently rotting on top of the roof over uncoordinated release of funds by the ministry of education
The minister then proceeded to monitor the construction of a hatchery at Datic being undertaken by the ministry of agriculture. The construction of the hatchery house is complete however no district official is aware of the progress of the project.
The minister later proceeded to Tororo girls where she monitored the construction of a dormitory block at school moving on successfully, she then went to monitor the mortuary works at Mile 1
The minister upon hearing of different land stories concluded that there is rampant grabbing of government land by public officials with impunity in Tororo municipality and asked the state house anti corruption unit to investigate the matter to its logical conclusion.
Some of the land that the minister wants investigated includes the Lion’s children park, the land at Work where its alleged that the original tenants are being displaced, the market land at Chaminula and dumping site land at Mile 4 Mbale road.
