The Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association members have today, 18th May, dismissed a section of aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa Kwetarana group over Murukoro land, who have been claiming ownership of the land.
Speaking to Eye Television reporters, members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association told the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group to go to court, saying they too secured the land through court.
The members, led by Tumuheirwe Efulahim, Filimon Rwanika, the former chairman of Murukoro Grazing Land, Mrs. Eudia Tukahirwa, and Robert Bamukyondoza, said they had challenged the district titling of the land and won the case.
They added that 29 people who had signed documents with the district to title the land, after realizing their mistake, wrote an application to the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association requesting membership.
They said that after winning the case, the court nullified the land title which the district had acquired, and Murukoro land was returned to members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association.
They wondered how the so-called members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group could claim ownership of the land without any court documents. They said they did not know the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa group, adding that they had never been involved in any court case with them and describing them as masqueraders.
They said they had agreed to work with the government to establish the iron factory in return for compensation as the rightful owners of the land.
Stephen Kamugisha, a member of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association, gave a historical background of the Kabirizi Murukoro land. He said the land used to be a grazing center and that in 2013, when he was still the LC3 Chairperson of Muko Sub-county, Murukoro land was encroached on by neighbors before the Barisa opened a case against them.
He added that the then authorities from Kabale District appeared before a large public gathering where the Barisa presented ownership documents, after which the authorities directed the Barisa to fence the land.
He further said that in 2016, after Rubanda was granted district status, a few people who were neighbors of the Murukoro land cooperated with the district to title the land. The Barisa challenged this in court and won the case.
Kamugisha said it was only the chairpersons of Hamumba Village, Kabirizi Village, and Kanyamatembe Village who signed for the district to take the land, claiming ownership of the Murukoro land.
He added that the LC1 Chairperson of Rutoga Village refused to sign for the district, insisting that the land belonged to the Barisa and not the Bahingi.
Kamugisha said that as the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Barisa Association, they were not going to allow a few individuals to jeopardize the government program of establishing the iron ore factory, which is expected to employ thousands of workers.
He added that merely being neighbors to the Murukoro land does not mean ownership of the land.
They advised the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa to seek redress in courts of law, noting that they too had acquired the land through court.
On Friday, 15th May, the aggrieved members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa had claimed ownership of the land.
Members of the Nyarurambi-Nyakabungo Bahingi/Barisa, led by Nowugabe Moses, Sunday Banabus, Vicente Bwiruka, Eduridah Twesigaomwe, and Priscilla Mukamagaba, decried being neglected in the compensation process as the district prepared for the establishment of the iron ore factory on Murukoro public land.
The group claimed ownership of the land, saying it had been handed down to them by their ancestors and that they had been protecting it from land grabbers.
The contested land measures 52 hectares.
