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Plain textM7 Blocks Investor From Evicting Families On L. Kyoga Shores
President Yoweri Museveni has strongly cautioned people that are engaged in the fishing industry in the country to desist from the culture of over-fishing as well as catching immature fish.
He said the practice, if not arrested, will have a great negative effect on the future of the fishing industry of Uganda adding that that it would highly impact on the development of one of the most lucrative sectors of the national economy.
Addressing a public rally yesterday at Lwaabyata Primary School in Lwaabyata Sub-county in Nakasongola district along the shores of Lake Kyoga, the President said that whereas fishing was a source of livelihood for many people, especially those living near water bodies, the business is greatly affected by poor fishing methods characterized by over fishing and catching of immature fish which pose a great danger to the sector.
He urged people to shun those poor fishing methods and warned that government, through her institutions, would punish those involved in those negative tendencies.
Museveni was in Lwaabyata Sub-county on a working and fact finding visit to the area to assess the possibility of having a sugarcane plantation as well as a sugar factory there courtesy of TIRUPATI (Uganda) Ltd, one of private sector companies in the country.
The President noted that although the sugarcane plantation and sugar factory would be good for the development of the area as sugar as a commodity is a necessity for the country and region, the area and land that had been located by the entrepreneurs was not suitable for the project because of the land tenure system.
He said that the land in question where the project had to run was a private mailo land on which there are so many squatters who cannot just be evicted.
They are protected by the existing land law. He also said that the occupants are peasants who need the land for their living.
There have been rampant cases of investors working with local authorities to evict peasants from their land to pave way for investments thus bloody clashes.
The development also comes at a time when hundreds of families in Hoima have rushed to court seeking an injunction on politicians’ plans to evict them from their land.
Museveni, therefore, advised the TIRUPATI group to find an alternative location for the project.
He pledged government readiness to give them assistance to ensure the success of the project.
President Museveni asked the wananchi of the area to make good use of the land and eradicate household poverty.
He said that they should stop using lack of land tittles as a reason for not engaging in meaningful production as they are protected by the existing land laws.
The President commended the existing pace of development that is taking place in Nakasongola district.
He also thanked them for the support they gave to the NRA/NRM protracted armed people’s liberation struggle and for consistently voting for the Movement in all the previous elections.
Nakasongola district LC5 Chairman James Wandera hailed the President for safeguarding the people from eviction and appealed to him to find a lasting solution of absentee land lords who are selling land on which people are living thus rendering them landless.
He also asked for government support in the education sector by deploying more teachers in the district to put the student-teacher ratio in the area at manageable level in order to enhance good learning.
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Updated on 2013-05-09 09:25 |
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