Karamoja, Uganda:
When Karamoja region was full of cattle conflicts among the Karimojong ethnicity, thousands of people died including non Karimojong and nobody especially wished to step in Karamoja land and the prayers of people including Karamoja leaders was that let peace be in Karamoja, indeed Karamoja is now quite peaceful after government launching disarmament exercise in Karamoja.
Although some criminal elements are still carrying out cattle theft, the situation is not as bad as it used to be, where the criminals could go as far as ambushing vehicles along the roads.
Since the government started disarming the Karimojong in 2002, a total of 48,000 illegal guns have so far been collected from the hands of the Karimojong pastoralists, and the disarmament operations are still ongoing.
The ongoing continuous disarmament that has led to the collection of thousands of guns in Karamoja has brought some peace, which has ushered in more trouble for the Karimojong on land.
Before, the Karimojong didn’t know the value of land, but they were only looking at cattle, which have also been depleted due to cattle rustling.
A plot of land in Moroto was sold for an acre at shs 13,000 to shs 30,000 between 2008 to 2010, but right now, a piece of land in Karamoja is between shs 10m to 80 million, depending on the location.
The discovery of the importance of land in Karamoja, after animals were depleted, has caused a death toll from land struggles.
Last year, four people were killed in Moroto municipality in a single day just because of land, a situation that used not to occur in Karamoja.
The four people who were killed were from the same family; one of the deceased was pregnant with twins, and her mother was speared at 9m. The police are yet to arrest the killer.
This is not the only incident related to land conflicts; many people have lost their lives due to land disputes in Karamoja.
Mr. Patrick Lote, one of the elders in Moroto district, urged the Ministry of Lands to take up the task to sensitize the community in Karamoja on the best way to manage land.
He said many people are likely to die due to land wrangles if something is not done.
“The Karimojong have known the value of land, and that’s why you find out that those who sell theirs and the buyer delays to develop it, they again secretly go and sell to another person, causing conflicts,” he said.
Timothy Akorio, another elder, said the Karimojong thought riches were only from the cows, but now they have opened their eyes, realizing that land is more important when the few Karimojong elites have already taken over the land.
“Many people are likely to die due to land conflicts if something is not done because everyone is now struggling to secure a piece of land,” he said.
According to Mr. Akorio, even the land that the community in Karamoja had regarded as communal land for grazing has been secretly surveyed by a few elites in Karamoja, and the region is sitting on a time bomb.
