Authorities in Kapchorwa are warning that resettling the Bududa landslide victims at the disputed Sironko-Kapchorwa border is a recipe for tribal violence.
The ministry of lands is in the process of acquiring 2000 hectares of land from Bunambutye Sub-county in Sironko district to resettle victims of the Bududa landslide.
Each of the displaced families will be given an acre of land for settlement.
The Bunambutye land which is at the border of Sironko and Kapchorwa has in the past been a scene of violent tribal clashes between the Bagisu and Sabiny.
A group of more than 300 Sabiny claim ownership of the disputed 17,000 acres of land in Bunambutye Sub-county.
They claim they were forced to flee their homes in the 60's and 70's, only to return recently to find their land taken away by land-grabbers.
The claim is backed by Kapchorwa district leadership which wants government to immediately halt the resettlement exercise and establish the true ownership of the land.
Nelson Chelimo the Kapchorwa LC5 Chelimo warns that government risks losing billions of shillings if it goes ahead to negotiate with land grabbers.
He explains that the right owners of the land were displaced by decades of cattle rustling.
Chelimo warns that resettling landslide victims on the disputed land is a recipe for violence because the rightful owners have started returning back due to the relative peace that the army led disarmament exercise has ushered in.
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Francis Chelangat a local council official appeals to government to delay the process of buying the land so that the rightful owners who are displaced to as far Masindi and Western Pokot are contacted.
Government is to spend 11 billion shillings to resettle the Bududa landslide victims.
