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SOROTI: Conflicts are brewing between the Soroti city technical officers and the locals following the massive illegal sale of people’s plots by city officials without the knowledge of the owners.
Exclusive investigations by this publication have earthed details and learnt that the city officials especially in the land board and physical planning in Soroti city could be living in their borrowed days following a move by the residents to attack them after they discovered that officials are the ones behind the sale and re-leasing of their land to other loaded business people without their knowledge.
The current contention issues is of a plot where Soroti municipal council before it become a city leased it to Mr.Samuel Eneku along old Mbale road to establish professional washing bay. This land is a community land that was earmarked for the construction of a health centre but the community okayed Mr.Eneku to use it however, under unclear reasons, a section of the officials at the city land board purportedly have issued the same land to three government institutions who are all claiming the same land.
Interestingly, they are no minutes from the city land board neither from East Division council which should have been consulted before the three government institutions were issued the same plots. Among the institutions including IGG, DPP, Uganda Human rights commission, Ministry of Justice and the Aids information center without consulting the community.
There have been several attempts by the judiciary to carry out survey on this land but the community has been chasing them saying they know Mr.Samuel Eneku as the bonafide occupant of the place and they were ready to shade blood should the city continue sending institutions into the land occupied by Mr.Eneku.
Speaking to this publication Mr. Samuel Eneku produced bulk of documents showing on how he was granted permission by the municipal council when Mr Moses Otimong was a town clerk to temporarily develop the place after the community allowed.
According to Mr.Eneku he occupied the place in 2019 and there were no mark stones or even a land title but to his dismay, the team from the ministry of justice came with purported land title for the place.
“I have been in this place since 2019 and I sent my documents to the city council now to process the ownership of the place but unfortunately the physical planer decided to sit on my documents and I didn’t know that he had his own agender-“he said.
Mr.Emmanuel Ogaram the LC1 chairperson of Cell 2 Akisim ward where Mr.Eneku occupied the place said corruption and double sale of people’s plots by those holding offices in Soroti city was posing a security threat. Ogaram says ever since he occupied the lc1 office for the last 15 years, the place occupied Mr Eneku has never had a title but he was also surprised that the ministry of justice has been given land title dated March 2023 which he said was a joke.
“This plot is for the community, whatever the city town clerk and his team are trying to do it’s a waste of time-“he said.
Ogaram further says no officials have ever visited his office neither calling members of the parish development to witness the survey of the place.
“I want to caution ministry of justice, IGG, DPP, Uganda Human rights and Aids information centre that whoever gives you a land title for that place are thieves and never accept it-“he said.
Moses Engangu another resident says there is a collection of thieves that have occupied the offices of land in the city and appealed the president to intervene in this.
“We were happy when Soroti become a city but we didn’t expect people to come and steal from us like this, we are not good at protesting but we shall accept to die because of our plots-“he said.
This publication also learnt that they are more than 18 places that the city has sold to various business people without involving the area land committee.
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