Slain Katikkiro family speaks out
THE former Buganda kingdom Katikkiro, Martin Luther Nsibirwa, was assassinated because of his role in giving land to Makerere University, his family has said.
By Raymond Baguma
THE former Buganda kingdom Katikkiro, Martin Luther Nsibirwa, was assassinated because of his role in giving land to Makerere University, his family has said.
Nsibirwa was shot dead at Namirembe Cathedral on September 15, 1945, by suspected kingdom loyalists after he supported the Namasole’s (Kabaka Mutesa II’s mother) quest to remarry, contrary to Buganda tradition.
But his daughter, Rhoda Kalema, recently said Nsibirwa’s death had to do with the role he played in compelling landlords to surrender part of their land to the colonial government to expand the university.
Kalema was clarifying on an earlier report in The New Vision that her father, as the Katikkiro, donated the land where the university was established.
She said her father only convinced the landlords to provide more land to the university.
“He suggested to the chiefs to give their land to the university and said they would be compensated with land elsewhere.
“But he bulldozed them. It was the main cause of his assassination,†Kalema said.
She said her father owned land in Mulago, where the nurses’ hostel is located today.
“Our father agreed to offer his land in Mulago in exchange for land in Kansanga,†she said.
The original land, on which Makerere was built, Kalema said, was owned by the protectorate government under the 1900 Agreement as ‘Crown Land.’
There has of late been a lot of controversy over the ownership of Makerere University’s land.
It was recently discovered that the land title for the university was cancelled under suspicious circumstances.
The lands minister, Omara Atubo, has pledged to carry out investigation into the matter.
“The issue of the land title getting lost is very complicated.
“Our late father did not give land because he did not own land around Makerere,†Kalema told The New Vision on Thursday.
THE former Buganda kingdom Katikkiro, Martin Luther Nsibirwa, was assassinated because of his role in giving land to Makerere University, his family has said.
Nsibirwa was shot dead at Namirembe Cathedral on September 15, 1945, by suspected kingdom loyalists after he supported the Namasole’s (Kabaka Mutesa II’s mother) quest to remarry, contrary to Buganda tradition.
But his daughter, Rhoda Kalema, recently said Nsibirwa’s death had to do with the role he played in compelling landlords to surrender part of their land to the colonial government to expand the university.
Kalema was clarifying on an earlier report in The New Vision that her father, as the Katikkiro, donated the land where the university was established.
She said her father only convinced the landlords to provide more land to the university.
“He suggested to the chiefs to give their land to the university and said they would be compensated with land elsewhere.
“But he bulldozed them. It was the main cause of his assassination,†Kalema said.
She said her father owned land in Mulago, where the nurses’ hostel is located today.
“Our father agreed to offer his land in Mulago in exchange for land in Kansanga,†she said.
The original land, on which Makerere was built, Kalema said, was owned by the protectorate government under the 1900 Agreement as ‘Crown Land.’
There has of late been a lot of controversy over the ownership of Makerere University’s land.
It was recently discovered that the land title for the university was cancelled under suspicious circumstances.
The lands minister, Omara Atubo, has pledged to carry out investigation into the matter.
“The issue of the land title getting lost is very complicated.
“Our late father did not give land because he did not own land around Makerere,†Kalema told The New Vision on Thursday.