Leaders in Pader District have raised concern over controversies surrounding the leasing of Aswa Ranch in Angagura Sub-county, Aruu North County, to an investor by Pader District local government.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed by the district chairperson, Mr Godfrey Largo Oringa, on March 3 and Mr Bunthala Anzlkumar Babulal, the executive director of Karnvati Agro Ltd on February 28. It shows the 105,400 acres [164.68 Sq Miles] of Aswa Ranch were leased through the Pader District land board for 49 years to Karnvati Agro Ltd.
Aswa Ranch is among the state-owned ranches in the country, where some 1,300 cattle are being bred under the management of National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB). Other government-sponsored ranching schemes include Nshaara, Maruzi, Lusenke, Ruhengyere, NARO Nakyesesa and Njeru.
According to the MoU, the investor is a commercial farmer, who will deal in large scale sim sim production, citrus, mango and palm tree farming.
However, authorities in Pader accuse the district chairperson of disregarding them when he signed the MoU.
The concern
Mr Justine Ochen, the district council speaker, said: “Giving away a large chunk of land requires involvement of the council and in this case we were never informed, the community members, local leaders, legislators were all not informed about this move.”
He accused Mr Oringa of giving away land that is surrounded by controversies over its ownership.
Mr Ochen said they will convene an emergency council meeting next week, where the fate of the land will be discussed.
The Pader Resident District Commissioner, Mr Dusman Okee, said the agreement between the chairman and the investor was not brought to his attention.
He said the land agreement was at first a rumour, which prompted him to convene a security meeting in which Mr Oringa was involved.
Mr Okee said the agreement threatens the security of the area.
“We admire investment in the district and encourage investors to come and invest. But their coming must be in a transparent manner and leaders should learn to involve all relevant stakeholders so that it doesn’t bring security discomfort,” he said.
Mr Okee said he verified with NAGRC&DB officials, who confirmed that no such agreement came to their knowledge and that the land title still belongs to the government.
Mr Oringa acknowledged signing the document in an interview with Daily Monitor on Friday, arguing that it is in the best interest of residents who will benefit in terms of employment and infrastructural development.
He said the land deal follows the process the district land board put in place in February 2017, to have the land reverted to local government.
The former Acholi District council offered Aswa Ranch to government in 1967 and was run by Uganda Livestock Industries (ULI), a government parastatal, on a 49 year-lease for beef and dairy production.
According to Mr Largo, the lease offer expired in 2016 but to their surprise, fraudsters purportedly under the defunct ULI changed ownership of the land from lease offer to freehold without consulting the district leaders.
“I am fighting for what is right for our people, there was an agreement that the land would be handed back to Pader District local government but now we hear an offer of freehold has been approved. We are seeing various investors operating on the land but surprisingly lives of locals are not improving,” Mr Oringa said.
The Aruu North legislator, Ms Lucy Achiro Otim, said she is disappointed with the chairman’s action of entering a deal on Aswa Ranch, which still has unresolved issues surrounding its ownership.
Efforts to get comments from Dr Charles Lagu, the executive director of NAGRC&DB, were futile as he did not answer our repeated calls.
Aswa ranch
Government began restocking Aswa Ranch in 2014/2015 financial year with about 1,030 herds of cattle comprising the Ankole, Boran, Brahman and Zebu breeds.
There has, however, been dissatisfaction among the Acholi leaders over the manner in which government is managing the farm that was meant to transform the lives of people in the region.
In 2017, government proposed the give-away of Aswa Ranch in northern Uganda and Nshaara in western Uganda to the NRM Secretariat, Ankole long-horned cattle breeders cooperative society, Mechanised Agro (U) Ltd, Abeki Co Ltd and Banuti Ranchers on a 49 year-lease.
The move was protested by the cultural and political leaders in the region who underscored the establishment of the ranch if it could not be owned by the locals.
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