Resettlement plans set

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
RESETTLEMENT plans are in place for families living at the Garden Hills settlement, National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop says.
Parkop has labelled an alleged shooting murder of two men and the destruction of properties at Garden Hills on Saturday as “unnecessary and unacceptable at this time we are faced with a major health challenge in the city”.
“I want to condemn this type of behaviour, stealing from the neighbours and attacking each other, this time, it is a random act of violence and it is not targeted at an ethnic group but at the community,” he said.
Parkop said that two years ago, he had made it known that there was a commitment to resettle the settlers at Garden Hills.
“I stated it to them in June of this year that we would be settling them,” he said.
“For us, it has been a matter of securing land to resettle them, it has taken a while. In the city, we don’t have land powers, we only have planning powers and we cannot do this resettlement.
“We are doing this as part of our goal that the city becomes a planned city.
“This means no more disorganised settlements.
“The land we have earmarked to resettle them has been approved by the Minister for Lands, and we are on the verge to registering the survey plan and then we get the title.
“This incident, I was fully briefed about the shooting incident.
“I want the officer to be processed, charged and brought to justice.”
Parkop’s comments came after a policeman allegedly shot dead two men at point blank after a fight broke out over the theft of a portable boom box at Garden Hills on Saturday evening.
Another two men were injured, a house was burned down and another house was looted and its occupants forced to flee during the fight.
The two men shot dead were from Eastern Highlands’ Okapa.
Relatives and friends of the two men (uncle and nephew) condemned the actions of the policeman who they alleged had been disrupting the lives of the settlers by destroying their markets when intoxicated.
NCD police said they were investigating with NCD internal affairs to take control of the probe into the actions taken by the policeman.