Minister Mwesige stops eviction of over 4000 people in Bunyangabu

Minister Mwesige instructing the Officer in Charge of Bunyangabu Police Station, Emmanuel Loliba, not to allow any evictions to take place. (Picture by Wilson Asiimwe)

LAND

Bunyangabu  -  "We have been on this land for more than 100 years but I was shocked recently when someone came up claiming the ownership of the land and asking us to leave," said Jacob Mugisa, one of the affected residents.

The Minister for Defense and Veteran Affairs, Hon. Adolf Mwesige, has stopped the eviction of over 4000 people from the two sub counties of Katebwa and Kisomoro in Bunyangabu district.

More than 4000 residents from the 13 villages in the two sub counties are living in fear of an impending eviction from their land following a claim of ownership by Zaveriyo Mahingura, a Kampala based business tycoon.

The contested 248 hectares piece of land stretches from Kismoro sub-county headquarters to the mountainous areas of Katebwa.


Also facing eviction are three government owned primary schools and several churches which have been built by the people.

Mwesige said on Sunday while meeting the affected people at Kisomoro Primary School that he had instructed the police and other security agencies not to carry out any evictions because the occupants are protected by the law.

"I have held meetings with the owner of the land title and we have agreed that nobody should be evicted from the land. People should carry on their duties without being intimidated," Mwesige said.

He said that government through the Uganda land fund will compensate the owner of the land so that people can get free hold offers.

"Together with the government, we are negotiating with the owner of the land so that he can be compensated and people get free hold land certificates for their land," Mwesige added.

Some of the occupants who are in fear of being evicted from the land (Picture by Wilson Asiimwe)

Mwesige cited an example where the land fund and government had compensated the Queen mother of Tooro, Best Kemigisa for the land in some parts of Bunyangabu. This led to the acquisition of land title by the occupants of the land.

"People should not be stopped from constructing permanent houses on the pieces of land that they occupy. The NRM government and President Yoweri Museveni cannot watch people suffer after being evicted from their land," Mwesige added.

 Mahingura, who is also the administrator of his late father's estates, claims to have inherited the contested land from his father who died in the 1990s.

Jacob Mugisa, one of the affected residents accuses Local council officials in the area for conniving with tycoons to grab their land.

"We have been on this land for more than 100 years but I was shocked recently when someone came with a land title claiming ownership of the land and asking us to leave," Mugisa said, accusing the local leaders for not helping them address the issue at hand.

95-year-old Joseph Kyaligonza was shocked to learn that a tycoon was claiming ownership of the land and had come to evict his family which has been occupying the contested land since he was born.

"We have been leaving in fear since January when Mahingura turned up with a land title claiming ownership of this land. It is on this thesis that we decided to petition the minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Bunyangabu County," Kyaligonza said.

Jane Asiimwe the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Bunyangabu said that she has been  consulting with the relevant government bodies to see how best to handle the situation.

Asiimwe noted with concern the invisible hand of power brokers in the brutal evictions and said that the brutal evictions are instigated by people who use their connections to bully people off their land.

"We are greatly concerned because the land which the man is claiming is occupied by very many people and with several government institutions like schools," Asiimwe said, not forgetting the increasing tension which has been high in the two affected sub counties following threats by Mahingura to evict the residents.