Simon Omara, a resident in Alim Village says that hundreds of long-horned cattle were over the weekend clandestinely brought at night to their area by the herdsman.
Residents of Alim Village in Pukor Parish Ogom Sub-county in Pader
District have staged a peaceful protest demanding the eviction of Nomadic
herdsmen from their area.
Simon Omara, a resident in Alim Village says that hundreds of long-horned
cattle were over the weekend clandestinely brought at night to their area by
the herdsman.
He says some of the animals have already started destroying people’s gardens
since the land they are being kept in is in fenced.
Omara says the district should intervene and cross-check whether the animals
were verified by the District Veterinary Officer and if their owners have been
allowed to graze them in the area.
The Pader LCV Chairperson Godfrey Largo confirmed receiving complaints from the
residents and noted that they will make an impromptu visit to the area to
verify the allegations.
// cue in; “I heard about…
Cue out;…. The Northern Region” //
The Pader Resident District Commissioner Dusman Okee, however, rubbished the
claim as baseless arguing that no herdsmen have returned in the district.
Okee says that a team will visit the area and verify the allegations.
// Cue in; “This gentleman here…
Cue out… Find the balalo” //
Thousands of Balalo herdsmen were evicted from Northern Uganda early last year
following President Museveni’s directives issued in 2017.
The President in his directives ordered any herdsman keeping cattle in the
region to fence off their land or vacate the region to avoid the animals from
wandering into people’s gardens.
This followed several complaints raised by residents and leaders in the region
that herding of cattle by Balalo herdsmen had led to many cases of land
squabbles.
