Apac district authorities have given the Banyankole herdsmen a two day deadline to leave the district or be forcefully removed from the land on which they are settled.
During two separate meetings at Igoti market in Ibuje Sub County and Awila in Akokoro sub county, the district leaders headed by the Apach district MP, David Ebong, agreed to forcefully evict the herdsmen, because they were illegally occupying the land and posing a food security threat.
The district chairperson Charles Okello Engola and the acting Resident District commissioner Lt Alfred Chandia said that they have received reports, that the herdsmen were grazing their animals on crops and destroying gardens uncontrollably.
The herdsmen have however remained defiant to the latest deadline. They say that they are not ready to leave unless their money they paid for the lease of plots is paid back to them. The herdsmen claim that they paid 200,000 shillings each for the property they are occupying.
The district leaders have promised to negotiate with the land owners to have the money refunded back to herdsmen before they can leave.
