Let the rule of law prevail in Uganda

May 19, 2011

THE security forces on Wednesday evicted hundreds of encroachers on the Lubigi wetland in Namungoona.

THE security forces on Wednesday evicted hundreds of encroachers on the Lubigi wetland in Namungoona.

According to the squatters’ leadership they had registered 40,000 people to occupy the wetland which they claimed on the basis that the land belongs to the Kabaka of Buganda and they need no one’s permission to occupy it.

After meeting the mob earlier in the week, environment minister Maria Mutagamba ordered their eviction. Police have pledged to camp in the area until the makeshift market stalls that had been erected are demolished by KCC.
The instances of massive encroachments on public and private lands are seemingly on the upswing.

A pattern seems to be forming. A group of people converge upon seemingly unoccupied land, start erecting structures in the dead of the night and then claim they are occupants of the land. It does not take much effort to make out that these squatters are emboldened by the backing of some connected people, continuing about their business in open defiance of local authority.

The economy globally and nationally is going through a rough patch and understandably there are people who are taking the brunt of this turn down harder than others, but that does not give them licence to steal property.

Though late, the Police action of evicting the encroachers by force was the right thing to do.
While government must recognise that there is a massive rural-urban displacement happening and should be actively involved in planning for this new influx, we cannot have people flaunting the rule of law every time they are aggrieved.

Such outlaws question this country’s commitment to the rule of law. The sanctity of property rights must be upheld if we are to see any meaningful development in Uganda.


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