RUBANDA – The Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association members have trashed a section of aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa Kwetarana group over Murukoro land, who have been claiming ownership of the land.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association members told the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group to go to court, as they too had secured the land back through court.
The members, led by Tumuheirwe Efulahim, Filimon Rwanika (the former chairman of Murukoro grazing land), Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa, and Robert Bamukyondoza, said that they had challenged the district titling of the land and won the case.
They added that 29 people who had signed documents with the district to title the land, after realizing their mistake, had written an application to the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association requesting membership.
They said that after winning the case, the court had nullified the land title which the district had acquired, and Murukoro land was given back to Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association members.
They wondered how the so-called members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group could claim ownership of the land without any court documents.
They said they didn’t know the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group, saying they had never been in any case with them and that they were masqueraders on the land.
The team confirmed they had agreed to work with the government to establish the iron factory in return for compensation as people who had been owning the land.
Stephen Kamugisha, a member of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association, gave a historical view of the Kabirizi Murukoro land.
He said the land used to be a grazing center and that in 2013, when he was still the LC3 chairperson of Muko Sub-county, Murukoro land was encroached upon by neighbors before the Barisa opened a case against them.
He added that the then authorities from Kabale district had come before a large public audience where the then Barisa had shown documents of ownership, and it was from this point that the authorities had directed the Barisa to fence the said land.
He added that in 2016, after Rubanda was given district status, a few people who were neighbors of the Murukoro land had cooperated with the district to title the land. The Barisa had challenged this in courts of law, where they won the case.
Kamugisha said it was only the chairpersons of Hamumba village, Kabirizi village, and Kanyamatembe village who had signed for the district to take the land, claiming to own the Murukoro land.
He added that the LC1 chairperson of Rutoga village had refused to sign for the district, claiming that the land belonged to the Barisa, not the Bahingi.
Kamugisha said that, as the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association, they were not going to allow a few members to jeopardize the government program of establishing the iron ore factory, which would employ thousands of workers. He added that being neighboring Murukoro land did not mean ownership of the land.
They advised the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group to go to courts of law because they too had acquired the land through court.
Last week on Friday 15th May, the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group had claimed ownership of the land.
Members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group, led by Nowugabe Moses, Sunday Banabus, Vicente Bwiruka, Eduridah Twesigaomwe, and Priscilla Mukamagaba, had decried being neglected in the compensation process as the district geared up for the iron ore factory at Murukoro public land.
The group claimed ownership of the land, saying that the land had been given to them by their ancestral parents and that they had been guarding the land against land grabbers.
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