Four enforcement officers from Karugutu Sub County in Ntoroko district have narrowly escaped lynching by traders while attempting to collect dues from the disputed Kihondo and Karogo Markets in Kichwamba Sub County. Both Kabarole and Ntoroko district claim the markets are in their areas.
Trouble for the official started on Wednesday, when they stormed both markets and ordered traders to start paying their monthly market dues for the month of February and March. However the more than 200 traders rejected the directive saying they had paid the dues to Kabarole district local government, which controls both markets.
The law enforcement officers who were armed with sticks and handcuffs, ordered the traders to vacate the market in vain. The officers then started throwing away the traders’ merchandize. However, the traders would not have any of this and instead fought back and started beating the officials. Patrick Kule, one of the enforcement officers was hit on the head with a sharp object and was taken to hospital unconscious.
The officers were rescued by cops from Kichwamba Police Post. The motorcycles belonging to the law enforcement officers were also stolen. Richard Magezi, a trader says that for the past six months they have been forced to pay market dues twice each month to Kabarole and Ntoroko district local governments. Magezi also says that they showed the officers receipts but they insisted that they should pay the dues.
//Cue in: “we can’t pay twice…”
Cue out: “…for six months.”//
Geoffrey Muhereza, a resident of Kihondo trading centre blames the two local governments for not addressing the conflict seriously. Muhereza, who is a dairy farmer, says that the conflict is also affecting farming activities. He says that whenever they take their cows and goats for grazing to Busaiga and Bwanika, they are denied grazing land.
Moses Agaba, the deputy chief administrative officer in-charge Burahya County says that the Ministry of Local Government should intervene in the conflict. According to Agaba, they have written several letters to the ministry but nothing has been done about it.
/Cue in: “affecting us…”
Cue out: “…we should know clear boundaries.”//
Ntoroko district inherited the border dispute between Bundibugyo and Kabarole districts dating back to 2008, with each district claiming ownership of some villages along the border. Ntoroko was curved out of Bundibugyo in 2010. Some of the villages under contention include Mabale and Bulyambuzi in Kihondo parish, Kinyamisigiri, Kinyamanyege in Nyantaboma parish and Nyankuku and Nyabibwa in Bwanika parish.
