Lands minister Judith Nabakooba has ordered the arrest of a man accused of grabbing seven acres of Church land in Mpigi village, Busiika town council, Luwero district.

Moses Kakembo, a leader in charge of the land at St Stephen’s Parish Church of Uganda, allegedly used his position to grab the land and chase away the sitting tenant, Joweria Nabukenya.  

The land in question is part of the 90 acres that belong to the Church.

Nabakooba ordered the arrest during a meeting she held in the area with the residents and their leaders on May 26, 2023.

The meeting was also attended by Luwero Resident District Commissioner, Bwaabye Ntulume.

Allegations 

Mpigi village LC1 chairperson Fenekansi Lule told the meeting how Kakembo was allegedly terrorising the whole village, grabbing people’s land using the Anglican Church leadership he assumed in 2019.

He stated that Kakembo came as a leader in charge of land at the church, but later tarnished the church’s name using his position to grab people’s land.

“He can wake up in the morning and fence off someone's kibanja (plot) without their knowledge. Our church initially had 90 acres, but as I speak, it remained with three or four. We sought assistance from the Busiika Police several times, but no one helped us,” he said.

Lule also alleged that Kakembo destroyed two cassava and sweet potato plantations of 75-year-old Juliana Katusabe, and never compensated her.

The minister asked the church to do a boundary opening to determine the size of their land. She implored them to do the exercise with the assistance of the RDC and the district surveyors.

This, she said, will help them mark the size of the church land and identify the rightful occupants plus the size of their bibanja. 

“Let Kakembo be arrested and if Nabukenya is the rightful occupant, let her go back and use her Kibanja. I encourage all locals to cooperate to ensure that we fight these land grabbers. I am wondering how a thief can come and take up someone's land when we have leaders in our areas," she said.

Issues another order

The minister also resolved that people at Manyama village in Zirobwe sub-county, whose crops were destroyed by Ngambwa Ruta who had bought the land, go back to their bibanja and plant crops.

“Let Proscovia Yiga, who got shillings five million on her phone from Ruta, return the money and her kibanja given back to her. Rehema Mutesi, a mother of seven whose cow was stolen and the door of her house removed, go back to her home. Ruta must make sure he pays back the cow in addition to fixing her door," Nabakooba said.

In her analysis at Manyama, the minister discovered that the matter is a family dispute as people are grumbling over ownership issues and have brought the kibanja people on board because each side has tenants who support it.

She noted that in the process of establishing the rightful owner of the land, they have forgotten that bibanja holders are known in the Constitution.

“Everyone is now on tension and you find that people go into agreement and sell their bibanja without the leaders knowing and later claim to have been coerced. Many others are going to come up claiming the same,” she said.

The minister revealed that she resolved to put in place a team composed of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Land Registration under the Ministry, the RDC and the local leaders because the matter could not be resolved in one day.

Nabakooba said this team is going to look at case by case, kibanja by kibanja, make an analysis and file a report that will ensure the case gets viable recommendations for a logical conclusion.

“However, the 'Kifeesi' who are coming to terrorise people must be arrested by the Police. The RDC is the chief security officer in the district and as the representative of the President, he must make sure that people are protected in an area because security is the number one priority regardless of the dispute,” she said.

“We don't want a dispute to turn into a security threat. The RDC must come on the ground, deploy and arrest whoever has been involved in terrorising the people,” she added.

The minister also said all cases that were reported by the community must be investigated up to the logical conclusion, taken to the resident states attorney, files sanctioned and those people appear before courts of law.

“Let justice prevail because if this doesn't happen, people will lose confidence in their government,” Nabakooba said.

Lauded

The RDC lauded the minister for sparing some time to intervene in land matters.

He said for the time he has spent in Luwero, he has received different cases of land wrangles, land owners taking up half of the bibanja from tenants claiming to be the owners of the land and trespassing cases imposed on tenants with the aim of taking away their land.

Mpigi Parish Reverend George William Ssejjobyo resolved to register all tenants on the church's land, those staying there and those who don't in order to determine the size of their bibanja. He said this will also help them to establish how those people acquired their tenancy and the formation of illegal tenancy in accordance with the law.

“Our aim is not to evict you from the land but to see how you will stay on our land. We are going to come to a compromise. If we call upon you, respond, bring all your documents to ease my work,” he told the residents.