The Woman Member of Parliament for Adjumani Jessica Ababiku has accused the government of being complicit in the Apaa land clashes involving the Madi and Acholi, which started all over again at the weekend.
“We are holding the government responsible for whatever has happened in Apaa,” Ms Ababiku said during a meeting of stake holders held at the office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.
In the same meeting Gilbert Olanya, the MP for Kilak county in Amuru district, accused the First Deputy Prime Minister and MP for East Moyo county in Adjumani district, Gen. Moses Ali of being ‘the Godfather of all the chaos between the Acholi and the Madi.’
“Land conflicts in the northern region are not about tribe, however government officials who want to give out land to investors are involved,” he said, and also pointed fingers at the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers, saying the army took part in the chaos that led to death of seven civilians.
But in response Gen. Ali urged his colleagues to find solutions to the Apaa land problem.
“We told Hon. Gilbert Olanya that we must sit and mediate the land issues in Apaa and we agreed to hold peace talks,” he said, adding that as leaders of Adjumani, they chose peace.
“We then urged the political leaders to leave those issues to the cultural leaders because they know and have a suitable vehicle of resolving them,” Gen. Ali said, adding that he had a duty to defend his voters.
“I don’t see how I can disassociate myself from the people I lead; every time you hear my name is because I represent those people in Parliament, he stressed.
The land conflicts between the Madi and the Acholi in the northern Uganda date way back to 2015 when members of the two tribes attacked each other, following with claims that the Madi had settled on Acholi land in an area stretching from Zooka Bridge to Aliwala.
