Gulu University and the district administration are in a frantic search and plea for land for expansion to avoid missing out on billions of shillings in grants for infrastructural development from African Development Bank.
Martin Ojara Mapinduzi, the Gulu district LC5 chairperson says he has been approached by the university management to help intervene in the land conflict between the institution and the residents occupying land neighboring the university.
Mapinduzi says while districts such as Lira, Kitgum and Arua have freely provided land to build constituent colleges for the university, it is embarrassing that nearly ten years since the institution begun the main campus in Gulu has not yet acquired ownership of a single acre of the land surrounding it. He appeals to the owners of the land near the university to consider selling their plots to enable the institution to expand.
The district chairperson said it is necessary for the plots of land to be surveyed and evaluated to pave way for adequate compensation of the owners.
Professor Nyeko Pen Mogi, the university vice chancellor has said he received communication from the ministry of education and sports saying that Gulu University needs to provide evidence of ownership of land totaling to 742 acres before it could receive a grant for infrastructural development.
Professor Pen Mogi said African Development Bank is giving a grant amounting to US$12 million meant for infrastructural developments in public universities.
Mapinduzi says he has organized a meeting with the university authority to discuss ways of acquiring more land to ensure they do not miss out on the development. He said the university has improved the level of social and economic welfare in the district since its establishment in 2002.
In 2009, the university sought to forcefully evict people living on the land adjacent to the campus but the move was halted by a court case.
Peter Kermagi, a resident of Ading in Paicho Sub County says that the university should come up with better terms to compensate them before they could relocate elsewhere.
Mapinduzi has said they would come up with a solution after the meeting with the university authority.
