The lands office in Kitgum district is dogged by corruption scandals.
The man at the center of the alleged scandals is Otto Mathew, the Districts lands officer.
Appearing on Mighty Fm Radio talk show program in Kitgum, Otto was for more than one hour put to task by the callers to explain why his office continues to extort money from people seeking to acquire land titles.
Some callers openly accused Otto of soliciting money and demanded to know why they are never given receipts to reflect their payments.
Otto was also accused of deliberately slowing down the process of acquiring land titles. According to one listener, only 20 applicants have been issued land titles in a spate of four years.
The people also demanded to know why Otto was keeping government documents on his personal laptop.
Caught in the heat of outright accusations, Otto admitted to receiving the monies. He however sparked off the listener's rage when he said that people who give out their money willingly should never demand for receipts.
Otto blamed his woes to the inadequate funding in the lands office. He claimed that he was forced to use his personal laptop because the district has not provided the office with funding to purchase computers.
But Okwera Richard Ojara, the LC3 chairperson of Kitgum town council, dismissed Ottos claim as baseless. He explains that the finance ministry allocated enough funds to cater for the statutory bodies and commissions.
Okwera says that soliciting bribes from land title applicant's tantamount to corruption and the culprits must be investigated.
Wanyok David, The district land board secretary, blames the district land officer for receiving money from the locals illegally. He says it is not the duty of the land officer to process land title for the applicants.
Kitgum district Local Council Five chairperson, Komakech John Ogwok, says the district council has received the allegation of corruption and extortion of money from the applicants.
He says the district is investigating the allegation and will pronounce itself an investigation. He has appealed to the locals to remain calm as the district council and other relevant departments handle the problem.
Allegations of intimidation by the district land board are not new. According to some people, the land officer who is a trained lawyer has on several occasions threatened court action against people who point an accusing finger at him.
