Teachers report Kajura to Museveni
Mar 25, 2009
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday put two ministers to task to explain reports that they were involved in grabbing land in Hoima and Masindi districts.
By Raymond Baguma, Pascal
Kwesiga and Amlan Tumusiime
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday put two ministers to task to explain reports that they were involved in grabbing land in Hoima and Masindi districts.
Closing a two-day workshop on patriotism for teachers, the President asked information and national guidance minister Kakakumba Masiko and Third Deputy Prime Minister Henry Kajura to defend themselves against allegations that they were evicting poor people from land they had lived on all their life.
The 150 teachers, drawn from Hoima, Masindi, Buliisa, and Kibaale districts, were gathered at the Riviera Hotel in Hoima town.
After delivering a lecture on patriotism, Museveni welcome questions. A teacher told the President that government officials were taking advantage of their positions to acquire land illegally.
Asked to explain the matter, Hoima resident district commissioner Martha Asiimwe said she was not aware of the complaints. Asiimwe only changed her position after the teacher cited a specific case in Kigorobya sub-county in Hoima involving Kajura.
Another teacher from Masindi district said Kabakumba, the MP for Bujenje county in Masindi, had grabbed land in Bwijanga sub-county in Bujenje.
At this point, Museveni ordered Kabakumba to defend herself as the teachers cheered.
Kabakumba said although she bought the land, she would not evict anyone living on it. She said the land formerly belonged to Asians under the freehold tenure. However, the property fell vacant when the Asians were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972.
She said the Custodian Board, which managed the property, advised the tenants to apply for the land collectively. Kabakumba said when the board advertised the land, she applied and got it. She explained that she was in the process of demarcating the land to establish the bonafide occupants whom she said she would not evict.
On his part, Kajura blamed political rivals, particularly the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) politicians, whom he accused of spreading rumours against him.
“The FDC are not many but they are noisy. They say, ‘Kajura is taking our land’. Am I a poor man? They are envious. These people should be picked up and locked up. They are saboteurs,†he said.
Kajura said he acquired the land from authorities in Kigorobya sub-county to build a bio-fuel project in partnership with German and American investors.
However, during the mapping exercise, land belonging to two unnamed institutions and private owners was also included. He said he wrote to the land board telling them he was not interested in the extra land. “But the matter became political,†Kajura said.
Museveni said under the Constitution and the Land Act, nobody can take away land owned customarily. “If it happens, it will be fraudulent and the title is cancelled. There is no way somebody can be thrown out of his land. If they do it, it is because of ignorance,†Museveni said.
Commenting on land wrangles in Bunyoro region, the President asked the teachers who had just trained in patriotism, to educate the public about the land law.
On the land wrangles in Buliisa, Museveni said he was siding with the Bagungu; but the High Court had blocked his decision to evict the Balaalo, which is delaying the conclusion of the case. He said he had asked the Attorney General to apply to court and expedite the hearing of the case.
“The High Court put an injunction and blocked my decision to evict those people (Balaalo). But because we are in a democracy, I have to listen. But I would have removed them long ago. I have funded lawyers of the Bagungu to fight the case in court,†Museveni said.
He urged Ugandans and the teachers to use the patriotism clubs to report corruption cases to the IGG or to him directly. “The patriotism clubs can help me chase such filth,†he said.
The President has already commissioned many patriotism clubs across the country. The aim is to plant patriotism in secondary school children.
The President said he chose teachers to champion the programme because the universal primary and secondary education programmes had placed most youth under their care.
Children who lack patriotism, Museveni said, suffer from intellectual malnutrition and the teachers should feed such children. He said lessons on patriotism would be included on the secondary school curriculum and a secretariat would be set up to supervise it.
Museveni said the patriotism programme is provided for in the Constitution, which he is entitled to protect and implement. “So I am doing my work. Nobody will sabotage the programme. Whoever tries to do so will be handled appropriately.â€
In a memorandum, the teachers pledged support to Museveni to consolidate his programmes.
Kwesiga and Amlan Tumusiime
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday put two ministers to task to explain reports that they were involved in grabbing land in Hoima and Masindi districts.
Closing a two-day workshop on patriotism for teachers, the President asked information and national guidance minister Kakakumba Masiko and Third Deputy Prime Minister Henry Kajura to defend themselves against allegations that they were evicting poor people from land they had lived on all their life.
The 150 teachers, drawn from Hoima, Masindi, Buliisa, and Kibaale districts, were gathered at the Riviera Hotel in Hoima town.
After delivering a lecture on patriotism, Museveni welcome questions. A teacher told the President that government officials were taking advantage of their positions to acquire land illegally.
Asked to explain the matter, Hoima resident district commissioner Martha Asiimwe said she was not aware of the complaints. Asiimwe only changed her position after the teacher cited a specific case in Kigorobya sub-county in Hoima involving Kajura.
Another teacher from Masindi district said Kabakumba, the MP for Bujenje county in Masindi, had grabbed land in Bwijanga sub-county in Bujenje.
At this point, Museveni ordered Kabakumba to defend herself as the teachers cheered.
Kabakumba said although she bought the land, she would not evict anyone living on it. She said the land formerly belonged to Asians under the freehold tenure. However, the property fell vacant when the Asians were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972.
She said the Custodian Board, which managed the property, advised the tenants to apply for the land collectively. Kabakumba said when the board advertised the land, she applied and got it. She explained that she was in the process of demarcating the land to establish the bonafide occupants whom she said she would not evict.
On his part, Kajura blamed political rivals, particularly the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) politicians, whom he accused of spreading rumours against him.
“The FDC are not many but they are noisy. They say, ‘Kajura is taking our land’. Am I a poor man? They are envious. These people should be picked up and locked up. They are saboteurs,†he said.
Kajura said he acquired the land from authorities in Kigorobya sub-county to build a bio-fuel project in partnership with German and American investors.
However, during the mapping exercise, land belonging to two unnamed institutions and private owners was also included. He said he wrote to the land board telling them he was not interested in the extra land. “But the matter became political,†Kajura said.
Museveni said under the Constitution and the Land Act, nobody can take away land owned customarily. “If it happens, it will be fraudulent and the title is cancelled. There is no way somebody can be thrown out of his land. If they do it, it is because of ignorance,†Museveni said.
Commenting on land wrangles in Bunyoro region, the President asked the teachers who had just trained in patriotism, to educate the public about the land law.
On the land wrangles in Buliisa, Museveni said he was siding with the Bagungu; but the High Court had blocked his decision to evict the Balaalo, which is delaying the conclusion of the case. He said he had asked the Attorney General to apply to court and expedite the hearing of the case.
“The High Court put an injunction and blocked my decision to evict those people (Balaalo). But because we are in a democracy, I have to listen. But I would have removed them long ago. I have funded lawyers of the Bagungu to fight the case in court,†Museveni said.
He urged Ugandans and the teachers to use the patriotism clubs to report corruption cases to the IGG or to him directly. “The patriotism clubs can help me chase such filth,†he said.
The President has already commissioned many patriotism clubs across the country. The aim is to plant patriotism in secondary school children.
The President said he chose teachers to champion the programme because the universal primary and secondary education programmes had placed most youth under their care.
Children who lack patriotism, Museveni said, suffer from intellectual malnutrition and the teachers should feed such children. He said lessons on patriotism would be included on the secondary school curriculum and a secretariat would be set up to supervise it.
Museveni said the patriotism programme is provided for in the Constitution, which he is entitled to protect and implement. “So I am doing my work. Nobody will sabotage the programme. Whoever tries to do so will be handled appropriately.â€
In a memorandum, the teachers pledged support to Museveni to consolidate his programmes.