The Elderly persons in Uganda have asked government to rescue them from their immediate relatives who have continually threatened their lives and grabbed their land.
According to Edith Kazimba, the Program Director Reach One Touch One Ministries (ROTOM) Uganda, a Christian organization that reaches out to the elderly persons and children in their care, the relatives claim that the elderly are too old and want them dead in order to access the land freely without any inconveniences.
Kazimba claimed that there’s an increasing vice of land grabbing against the elderly by their immediate relatives.
”Investigating the matter, you come to note that it is either the relatives or the grandchildren. One of the grandsons once lamented “Aba ROTOM mutusibyeko abakadde.” To them they don’t see the need for jajas’ existence because it hinders their access on the land,” she said.
She asked the government to extend support through laws to regulate and align the succession space in the country.
“Also, among the few who are lucky to have land title, so many have been misled by their own relatives either by stealing their titles or make them sign fake documents. This results into loosing land unknowingly to the elder persons since it’s always a scheme that illiterate couldn’t understand,” Kazimba added.
Edith asked the government to liaise with the department for the elderly at the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development to come to the elderly’s rescue.