The Amuru Resident District Commissioner, Odong Latek Stephen has issued notices to several residents of the Lakang sub-county to leave the land for which they were compensated by the government or else face forceful eviction.

The land situated at Kololo Parish in Lakang Sub-county, which measures about 10,000 hectares has been gazetted for growing sugarcane and the establishment of a Sugar factory by the Madhivani Group.

Huge chunks of the land remain unutilized since the Madhvani Group is yet to occupy it for the planned sugarcane project. So the people who were compensated and had to leave, took advantage to stay a little longer and continue using the land. There is also a large group of herdsmen who are grazing their livestock and also growing food crops.

The Amuru Resident District Commissioner, Odong Latek Stephen said the district leadership asked illegal occupants to leave the land peacefully before the first rain season or face forceful eviction.

Gilbert Olanya, the area Member of Parliament of Kilak South said that the locals felt no need to move since the establishment of the sugarcane project had been delayed. He accused the government of not respecting the agreement of using the land for farming and instead allowing pastoralists to graze on it.

However, Onyango Santo, one of the residents in the project area in Kololo Parish, who is yet to be compensated, accused the herdsmen of allowing their animals to stray into their gardens and destroy their crops. He expressed worry that the people may suffer hunger since their crops would have been destroyed.