{{A group of twenty local leaders in Nyagatare district have been relieved of their duties following accusations that they abused laws and procedures on land use.
Among the suspended include two Cell Executive secretaries and the Agriculture officer of Rwimiyaga sector.}}
Their suspension follows the growing encroachment on grazing land which was sold to migrants from other districts. More new houses have been built on this grazing land and extended cultivation gradually covering the land.
More than Hundred families had illegally encroached on Grazing land and have thus been evicted after district authorities noticed grazing land had turned into gardens and settled on.
This prompted district authorities to evict the encroachers but after compensating them and showing them land onto which they would resettle.
Eviction of the encroachers is still ongoing and affected families are currently hopeless as they claim they don’t have funds to start new lives as all they had was invested on the land they are being evicted from.
Nyagatare district authorities told IGIHE that there have been several community meetings where residents are sensitised on how to use their land specifically warning them not to cultivate and build on Grazing land.
However, owners of grazing land have been selling off some of their land to migrants but all this has allegedly been happening in the full notice of local leaders in Rwimiyaga.
Sabiti Fred the mayor of Nyagatare told IGIHE that the local leaders have been suspended as a way of punishing them for not properly directing residents on land usage yet they are actually well informed.
james@igihe.com
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