Erute Land: Lira district to appeal against court ruling

15 March 2023, 12:23 pm

By Ceaser Okello

Lira district local government has said it will appeal against a ruling by the high court in Lira over a chunk of land in Erute. Both Lira district and the Uganda police claim ownership of the land but in February the high court sitting in Lira ruled in favor of Uganda police.

This was after some stake holders led by a former local councilor Stephen Alele dragged the district to court for forcefully taking over the land with claim that land in question doesn’t belong to Lira district local government.

Other concerned citizens who are a party to this case include Ken Allan Owani, Anthony Odur, Isaac Omara and Innocent Odongo. They contend that the land in Erute, former Lira sub county and Ireda Estate all belong to the Uganda police.

But as it stands now, Lira district land board is calling for a judicial review and it has also indicated that it intends to appeal against this ruling. Paul Cankoma is the chairperson district land board. He tells Qfm that the issue on this controversial chunk of land in Erute was resolved long time before the high court in Lira pronounced its ruling.

Cankoma says they entered into mediation with Uganda police and 9.6 acres of land in Erute was apportioned to the Uganda police, another potion of land in Lira city West was also allocated to the police and two plots of land on Odur Yosam road.

According to the chairperson district land board, Ken Allan Owani and his team who dragged to the district to court were also compensated with plots of land. Owani also confirmed in an interview with Qfm that they each received a plot of land to have this controversy amicably resolved out of court.

By press time, our reporter couldn’t get comments from the territorial police command of North Kioga region.