Petitioners also accuse Sylvia Owori, a director at OWC, of grabbing over 90 acres of their ancestral land and that she continues to forcefully take land with the help of armed security agents.

Launched in 2013 by the President, OWC purposes create a system that facilitates effective national socio-economic transformation with a focus on raising household incomes and wealth creation.

“The residents are living in fear due to the continued harassment, provocation, intimidation and sometimes attacks. Owori has already displaced some families, fenced off compounds and gardens of crops, continues to encroach on other lands under the watch of her armed security officers,” said Hon. Sarah Opendi (NRM, Tororo district woman MP).

Opendi presented the petition during the plenary sitting of Thursday, 19 May 2022 chaired by Speaker Anita Among.

She said that the armed men have beaten people found innocently working in their gardens or collecting firewood in land that Owori claims to be hers.

The petitioners are further aggrieved that Owori has blocked pupils and teachers from accessing Heroes Foundation Primary, a private school, claiming that the school land belongs to her.

“In attempt to stop access to the land, she erected a tomb apparently belonging to her late grandfather in the compound of the primary school in September 2020,” said Opendi.

Owori is also accused of preventing worshipers of Abundant Live Centre Church from accessing the church whose land she also claims to be hers.

Opendi said that all the petitioners’ efforts to seek help from the Police and the Resident District Commissioner have been futile and that Owori has ignored court summons.

Speaker Among directed the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to urgently visit the land in dispute and stop the illegal evictions and harassment.

“In the interim, as the Committee of Physical Infrastructure handles that issue, the minister must go and put a temporary measure to stop army men from beating our people,” Among directed.