Businessman evicted from refugee land
Sep 23, 2007
KAMPALA businessman Peter Bibangamba has been evicted from three square kilometres of land he had fenced off in Isingiro district. The Government says the land belongs to Nakivale Refugees’ Resettlement Camp.
By Kyomuhendo Muhanga
KAMPALA businessman Peter Bibangamba has been evicted from three square kilometres of land he had fenced off in Isingiro district. The Government says the land belongs to Nakivale Refugees’ Resettlement Camp.
Bibangamba is said to have fenced in some refugees.
The refugees’ senior protection officer in the Prime Minister’s Office, Douglas Asiimwe, said the eviction of Bibangamba and other encroachers was well planned and orderly.
“In June, the Minister of Lands ordered Bibangamba to stop encroaching on the refugees’ land, but he went ahead to fence it off. We had to evict him,†Asiimwe said recently.
The Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Musa Ecweru, requested Police assistance in the eviction in a September 12 letter to the internal affairs minister.
Bibangamba however insists that he did not grab the land. “I purchased the land and I have the land titles,†he said.
“This land was given out by the Mbarara Land Board and they issued land titles. It is on the open market for any person to purchase, so the issue of grabbing land doesn’t arise at all,†Bigamgamba told The New Vision.
Nakivale camp was initially in Mbarara district before Isingiro was carved off from it.
KAMPALA businessman Peter Bibangamba has been evicted from three square kilometres of land he had fenced off in Isingiro district. The Government says the land belongs to Nakivale Refugees’ Resettlement Camp.
Bibangamba is said to have fenced in some refugees.
The refugees’ senior protection officer in the Prime Minister’s Office, Douglas Asiimwe, said the eviction of Bibangamba and other encroachers was well planned and orderly.
“In June, the Minister of Lands ordered Bibangamba to stop encroaching on the refugees’ land, but he went ahead to fence it off. We had to evict him,†Asiimwe said recently.
The Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Musa Ecweru, requested Police assistance in the eviction in a September 12 letter to the internal affairs minister.
Bibangamba however insists that he did not grab the land. “I purchased the land and I have the land titles,†he said.
“This land was given out by the Mbarara Land Board and they issued land titles. It is on the open market for any person to purchase, so the issue of grabbing land doesn’t arise at all,†Bigamgamba told The New Vision.
Nakivale camp was initially in Mbarara district before Isingiro was carved off from it.