PARTNERS CALLED TO INTEGRATE TO SECURE LAND FOR REFUGEES

By Morish Dramadri

Arua city

Host community members in Lobule Refugee settlement in Lobule sub county Koboko district have called for the integration of the refugees with the host community in implementation of livelihood and resilience programs in the settlement so as to solve the challenge of land for the refugees.

Since the reduction of food ration for the refugees by World Food Programme, WFP, refugees have faced shortage of land to embrace farming for self-reliance.

Musema Habib a host community member in Lobule refugee settlement while speaking in a dialogue at the camp on Wednesday suggested that the refugees be integrated with the locals by the livelihood implementing partners so as to make the access land.

“Previously, we were supported together with the refugees but time came that refugees were put under cluster and they were the only ones helped but without farm lands. I would advise that since it’s us nationals having farms, let us be considered as one with the refugees so that we can help each other”, Musema proposed.

Lobule refugee settlement is a home for the Congolese asylum seekers since 2013 and are only given about 50 by 50 meter land each at the camp.

Baiti Tairi the senior assistant chief administrative officer of Lobule Sub County equally believed that integration can build relationships which can help to solve the challenges of land for the refugees.

“The interventions of our development partners sometimes get challenges in expansion because of the issue of land and the only recommendation is that the people of concern should integrate, this social interactions will help to build relationships, these relationships can help our people of concern and the host community to get land,” Baiti supposed.  

Although many partners have come in to help the refugees in livelihood projects, most of the projects have failed to expand due to shortage of land.

Lobidra Charles the Acting project coordinator of the self-reliance module project at World vision admitted that the integration approach is ideal for the success of self-reliance projects. “It will be ideal to work with host community and refugees together because they can easily share resources, if there a5re hosts and refugees in one group, a host can easily offer his own land because our core is land, as partners we need to look into how we can bring the two together so that they can easily share the available resources,” Lobidra conquered. 

Subject to article 237 of the Constitution, all land in Uganda shall vest in the citizens of Uganda and shall be owned in accordance with the land tenure systems.