Pastoralists in Nkoko and Kayanja II villages in Kitswamba Sub-county, Kasese district have protested over a government decision to allow cultivators plant crops on land that initially belonged to the cattle keepers who now have nowhere to go.

Now the pastoralists, who accuse Kasese officials of taking sides with cultivators, have passionately appealed to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to come to their rescue so that they can have their land back.

This piece of land, measuring about 3,500 acres in Nkoko and Kayanja II villages, Kitswamba sub-county in Kasese district, has been a source of dispute between the pastoralists and cultivators here since 2007. It was carved off from a larger chunk of land owned by the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF). 

The Kasese district leadership has held several meetings to resolve the dispute in vain until recently when the Ministry of Lands sent surveyors to open boundaries and demarcate the land to end the wrangle. Some of the claimants say they decided to abandon their houses to save their lives.

The pastoralists have appealed to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to come to their rescue after accusing the district leadership of taking sides with the cultivators. 

In 2014, at least eleven people were killed in Nkoko village in dispute over this land. Given the history of this land wrangle, the LC3 chairperson Kitswamba sub-county says this dispute must be urgently resolved or else more people will lose their lives.

However, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner in charge of Busongora County Mubingwa Zepha says there is no cause because the government has done all it takes to equitably divide the land between the pastoralists and cultivators.

According to Mubingwa, the land allocated to the pastoralists is more than enough to settle them and their cattle.