By Joseph Abiria

Arua

Elders under their umbrella body of Lugbara Kari are making significant strides in creating awareness about land rights and land protection. The elders are coming up with a document where bonafide land lords will be required to register and lease customary land with full titles.

Of late land has become contentious and therefore the elders are sensitizing their subjects on land matters. Land is critical for development, David Anguyo, a youth in Pajulu ward cited elders as people with   double standards on land matters. “This is very difficult and the elders, I blame them greatly, they no longer care about the children, they think they are great and they know everything, they try to marginalize the children when it comes to issues of land, so we are considered kids, we know nothing,” he emphasized.

In most home steads across West Nile, women are denied the rights to own land, Tiko Marha Zamvadeni, the Minister of land under Lugbara Kari urged elders to recognize the rights of women to own land saying that land belongs to everybody. “Once a place becomes a city, land belongs to everybody because city accommodates everybody,” she said.

Meanwhile the Prime Minster of Lugbara Kari, Ismail Tuku discouraged his subjects from the primitive practice of selling off land. “The purpose of our sitting today is to get rules, laws and guidelines as far as land is concerned, we have people already thinking that land is wealth and it has to be sold off”, he warned.

Under the new  laws of lugbara kari, land will only be sold off  in critical circumstances ranging from school fees, sickness and death.

COVER PHOTO: Elders under Lugbara Kari pause for a Photo By Joseph Abiria