Anger and fear have gripped residents of Anyomolyec village in Okii parish, Otwal sub-county, Oyam district, for months.
Families have accused State Attorney Sarah Amony, who serves as the Resident State Attorney for Gulu City, of using hired agents and local police to forcibly seize ancestral land.
The alleged tactics include a campaign of intimidation, unlawful arrests, destruction of property, including the desecration of graves.
The residents accuse Amony, who originally hails from their area, of grabbing land from local families. Specifically, they blame her for destroying graves and constructing roads, among other wrongdoing.
At the center of the dispute is land belonging to the family of the late James Egole, where three graves have reportedly been tampered with, and structures built over them after she allegedly seized the property.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Otwal trading enter B village, Richard Agwa, a local defense official, confirmed that due to the incident, pupils from Agolo Primary School and Otwal Secondary School have been unable to access their schools because the accused person has closed the community’s access road.
Agwa added that the late James Egole had left Acuti Jimmy in charge of the land before he died. Furthermore, the late Ogwal Moses, a son of the late Egole, was buried there long ago.
Sophia Akite, 48, from the same area, said, “I was brought here in 1993, and the late James Egole was the owner of this land.”
She recounted that residents were shocked on March 18, 2026, after seeing Sadam Okullu Onimo delivering construction materials onto the land, which does not belong to him, acting in collaboration with Sarah Amony.
Joy Adong also accused Amony of ordering the demolition of property on people’s land. She said that under Amony’s directives, several houses and gardens were destroyed.
Adong added that Okullu Onimo Sadam and Sarah Amony are the root cause of the entire matter. “We are calling upon top security personnel to protect us over this matter,” she said.
“They came at dawn with police,” said Ayiko Collins, 35, a widow whose three houses were burned and destroyed, and whose potato garden was ravaged by a tractor. “There was food in the house—three sacks of sorghum, two sacks of beans, and two sacks of maize—all burnt inside. I had to run for my life.”
She stated that Okullu Onimo Saddam, one of Amony’s agents, continues to threaten her. The plot has been fenced off, and even her husband’s grave was enclosed by Amony’s agents amidst death threats.
Now living in a humble grass-thatched house, Ayiko is trying to recover from what she calls the inhumane treatment by Sarah Amony, and she is calling for help from the government and well-wishers, as her life remains at stake.
At a heated community meeting on March 18, 2026, more than 62 residents gathered to condemn what they described as a coordinated scheme to dispossess poor households of their customary land.
Multiple families allege that agents and armed men claiming to act on behalf of a State Attorney have fenced off gardens, demolished homes, desecrated graves, and uprooted crops within the past month.
Patrick Agwai, 54, accused both Sarah Amony and her team, led by Okullu Onimo Sadam, of bringing confusion to the community over the land dispute. He stated that these individuals are using large sums of money to instill fear and threats among the community.
In a meeting chaired by the Officer in Charge of CID for Oyam, one Lucy Ayo, the locals stated that they now live in fear because anyone who challenges any land grabbing is arrested and faces false charges.
They further asserted that Sarah Amony, a principal state attorney, has been working with a certain Inimu Saddam, who repeatedly threatens the community, often accompanied by police and hired goons.
The residents have appealed to the Fourth Division Army Commander and the President to provide them with security at their homes, as they live in constant fear of being arrested and charged on fabricated counts. They accuse the police of being compromised and acting under Amony’s influence.
When contacted, the accused person, Sadam Okullu Onimo, who is now constructing a building on the land, rejected the allegations and said it is not true that a grave was there.
Although he first told our reporter not to run the article, regarding the closure of the community access road, he claimed that the road did not exist before.
The other accused person, Sarah Amony was contacted twice on Monday, May 4, 2026, at around 4:15 p.m. for comment on the matter. She did not answer our calls.
Fourth Division Commander, Colonel Ronald Orombi Oloya, told our reporter that if it is true that Amony is threatening residents’ lives using UPDF soldiers, then that is very unfortunate.
The Colonel urged the community to identify the specific soldiers involved so that the army can take immediate action. Finally, he lamented that a state attorney is not supposed to move with a soldier.
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