The State Minister for Northern Uganda, Kenneth Omona, is under scrutiny following accusations of encroaching upon and attempting to seize over 1,326 acres of ancestral land.
The allegations were made by the family of the late Ronaldo Olanya Lapar, who claim that their ancestral land, located in Laliya, Agung Village, Anaka Sub-County, Nwoya District, has been forcefully tilled under Omona’s direction.
The surviving sons of the late Lapar assert that their father legally acquired the land in the early 1960s. However, due to frequent invasions by stray elephants from the nearby Murchison Falls National Park, the land was largely underutilized for decades.
Despite these challenges, the family maintains that the property has always been theirs and is now being wrongfully taken from them.
The family claims that Omona has used his influence as a government official to encroach upon the land, a situation that has caused outrage and tension within the community. “This land was left to us by our father, and now we see it being forcefully taken,” one of Lapar’s children stated. “We’ve suffered from wildlife attacks, but we never abandoned our claim to it.”
Local leaders and residents are reportedly concerned about the dispute, with some fearing that such cases of land grabbing may become more frequent as powerful individuals seek to exploit vulnerable families in the region.
Nwoya District, which borders the expansive Murchison Falls National Park, has experienced its fair share of land conflicts over the years, particularly where communities live adjacent to protected wildlife areas.
The family has called on local authorities and the judiciary to intervene and protect their ancestral heritage. Land ownership issues have long been a point of contention in Northern Uganda, where families have often faced disputes following decades of civil unrest and displacement. With the region still recovering from the effects of conflict and displacement caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, land-related grievances remain a sensitive issue.
As the accusations against Omona continue to unfold, many are watching closely to see how the authorities will handle the case, particularly given the powerful position held by the minister.
