How Land Conflict Between Gulu, Amuru Will Affect Population Census

The escalating land conflict between Gulu and Amuru Districts in Northern Uganda if not urgently solved can have a great impact in the coming National Population Census, Spyreports has exclusively established.
The land which can cause blood shed in the neighboring districts is called Paralo sub county which the two districts claim.

This information was revealed by Dr Chris Mukiza the Executive Director Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) while supervising the ongoing mapping exercise in Northern Uganda on Friday. UBOS is the independent body responsible for conducting National Population Census in Uganda every after 10 years.

Dr Mukiza while interacting with statisticians and local government officials at Gulu District, he was extensively informed that Pararo land is being claimed by both Gulu and Amuru districts and it could cause problems during census. "Sir, this land is claimed by Gulu and Amuru and land issues in Acholi districts are terrible, people even lose life if not handled properly. Therefore we ask government to urgently solve the issue before census is conducted," Lugu Samuel Gulu CAO was quoted telling Dr Mukiza during a meeting.

The CAO adds, "If the Census time comes and the problem is not solved I can assure you chaos will occur because Gulu people will not be allowed to be counted in Amuru and vice verser."
Other local leaders from Gulu told us that if Amuru people go to the land Gulu people will chase them and Gulu people also go on the same Land Amuru will chase them. "The only people who can visit that land is security no body else," says one of local leaders in Gulu. Even the media without police can not step on the land.

In the response, Dr Mukiza assured the Gulu adminstration that he will take up the matter to Local Government Ministry which is responsible for boarder demarcation. Dr Mukiza however called for calmness among the people of Gulu and Amuru to allow census activities go on in the controversial land as government will sort the issue. "I will ask the leaders in both Gulu and Amuru to allow UBOS team do the mapping in the area as we wait for government to solve the issue," he says.
In other Districts where Dr Mukiza personally supervised mapping were in Kiryandongo District, Oyam, Gulu and Amuru.

In Kiryandongo District, the CAO Mr Martin Jacan Gwokto says mapping is almost complete but were remaining with few parts in Bweyale Town Council. Mr Gwokto said some villages are extremely big in size yet the man power is not enough. "We have 323 villages and 42 parishes but you find one village having over 700 house holds and have only three listers to collect data and this would require them a lot of time," he says.

He further says that Kiryandongo had a problem of many tribes which is also a problem during mapping exercise. "We have over 72 tribes in one district and this makes it harder for listers to get information from the ground which has caused the delay," he says. He added that they need more guides who understand different languages and most of them would require money to help listers do the work on time,"Explains CAO adding that they are doing their best to make sure mapping is finished shortly.
He further says most local people do not understand GPS and it takes them a lot time to explain what it means and this has also contributed to the delay of the mapping exercise. He also said facilitating the guides is still a problem.

In Oyam the District Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Mrs  Irene Chelenget said mapping is almost finished. She added the listers have sent the data to the National Center. She says they are also facing the challenges of big size of the villages. " We have villages that have over 4200 house holds yet the number of listers are few and this takes them time to finish,"she says. She added that another challenge is long distance travelled by both Listers and Guides and yet the facilitation is little. "Each lister is paid 20000 and Guide 12000 which is meant for lunch," says Chelenget. She says the long distance requires a boda boda to enable the exercise be conducted on time which is costly. "The two boda bodas to transport the lister and the guide daily would be 30k each meaning daily they need 60 to do the work on time," she explains adding that the money is no where.

She further says due to limited resources, listers and guides move on foot and cover little distance which ends delaying the exercise. She added that they still face the challenge of system upgrades where information goes directly on old system yet there is a new system. "Some new Sub counties and parishes were created and were not put on new system and all information from new areas go to old system," she says.

The CAO adds that they are facing challenge of not accessing the information from the Listers yet they are their supervisors.
"The listers send information directly to National center without passing into hands and when they make mistakes, the National center will push a blame to us," she added. She request UBOS boss to allow them receive information from Listers, go through to make sure there is no mistakes. "Actually we should be the ones to send the data to National server not listers," he said.

Dr Mukiza in his response said the financial issues will be handled to make sure the mapping is completed on time. "Government released little money for this exercise and that is the reason why few people were employed but I can assure you more money is soon coming and all these challenges will be handled," he says. He added that on the big sizes of the villages, they will be reduced to small sizes to allow easy mapping. "According to the standards,each village should not exceed 150 house holds but we are also solving that problem," he says.

He further says that digital mapping will also help government to bring  services to the people.
"The GPS coordinates will help the government to know the distance between clean water source, hospital, police stations to the community," he says adding that when the distance is far, services can be brought closer to the people.