The pastoralists settled in Kanyaryeru sub county; Kiruhura District lived a more happily settled life than anyone else after the Government allocated about 40 acres of land per household.
The land was allocated to the residents through the Kanyaryeru Resettlement Scheme in 1986. In Kanyaryeru, mostly the parishes of Kanyaryeru, Akaku, Rwamuranda among others, the land was mainly acquired during the setting up of the Kanyaryeru Resettlement Scheme.
According to Muhindo Aminadab, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), the area (Kanyaryeru) is mainly occupied by Bahima who are traditionally cattle keepers. Most of them were resettled in this area in 1986 from the war-torn area of Luwero triangle. He added “Other ethnic groups are mainly cultivators and these include Bakiga, ethnic Banyankole from Mbarara and Mpororo in Rukungiri and some Baganda”.
However, in the areas outside the resettlement scheme, land was generally owned communally and from generation-to-generation land was utilized by all the people with equal claims over the land and therefore inheritance is the major mode of land acquisition.
The current mode of land acquisition in Kanyaryeru areas include land purchase.Kanyaryeru is situated along Mbarara-Masaka highway, 22 kms east of Mbarara city.
How Government ended conflicts between local community and National ParkThe government of Uganda has gazetted a number of large areas as national parks mainly in an effort to preserve its unique eco-systems and related bio-diversity.
This created land use conflicts especially where these areas contain valuable natural resources which for a long time have been utilized by the local communities.
In Lake Mburo National Park, the land use conflict became prominent in 1983, when the entire game reserve was declared a national park and the people were evicted from the gazetted area.
To end the conflicts, the need for community participation was realized in 1989 and the Lake Mburo Community Conservation Project was therefore set up to create more positive attitudes towards the park amongst the local communities and involve them in the conservation of protected areas