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KAMPALA - State House on Sunday, December 7, explained the exact roles of the Presidential Taskforce on Land Matters and Environment, operating within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development headed by Brig. Gen. Moses Lukyamuzi a Special Presidential Assistant.

“PPU hereby informs the public about the role of Brig. Gen. Lukyamuzi. In this capacity, he oversees the Presidential Taskforce on Land Matters and Environment, operating within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development,” the Presidential Press Unit (PPU) said in a statement.

State House noted that under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Lukyamuzi, the task force is assigned the following responsibilities: prevention of encroachments on wetlands, forests, and riverbanks; swift security responses in cases of land grabbing; and handing over suspects to the police or the military police for further handling.

“Please note that the task force is not authorized to conduct investigations, detain individuals, or prosecute suspects. These responsibilities remain within the purview of the police, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the Courts of Law,’ the statement indicated.

Even though no reason was given on why the task force’s roles were being explained in the statement, sources noted that several complaints had been filed against the unit, especially against the way they were conducting their affairs.

In 2022 for instance, the taskforce was accused of trying to support a section of land grabbers to throw out Police and court orders on a contested piece of land comprising block 185 and plot 385 located in Kito,  Namugongo, Kiira Municipality in Wakiso District.

The land under dispute belonged to Yusuf Ssemakula and Alice Nabitosi but the Police had deployed on it after another group allegedly attempted to grab it.

The taskforce intervened and ordered the Police to vacate the land even though there was a court order maintaining status quo on the said piece of land.

In September 2022, the Minister of State for Lands, Sam Mayanja, vowed to bring to the attention of President Yoweri Museveni, matters relating to the abuse of court orders by the same task force.

The minister openly made the revelation when he visited the administrators of the estate of the late Nechemia Masabo Lwanga Sempama, of Nkumba Bufulu Zone in Entebbe who had petitioned the Director of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), accusing Lukyamuzi and his bodyguard of misconduct.

They accused Lukyamuzi and his bodyguards of malicious damage to property, assault, and disobeying a court order.

The administrators accused some officials of the task force, before the minister, of asking them for land in exchange for protection. But when they declined, the taskforce members on November 29, 2021, raided the land in question and removed all the mark stones and fencing poles from the deceased’s land measuring 3.5 acres.

“If court put a caveat on this piece of land, the Presidential Task Force on Land matters has no business to come and interfere. Why are they deploying armed forces here! This is illegal, they should act in tandem with the law and the Ministry of Lands,” Mayanja said.

He said he would request the President to disband it if they didn’t stop abusing their powers.