Four arrested for chasing UNRA officers from their quarters

Sep 10, 2017

The group closed UNRA staff quarters with padlocks, leaving the families of UNRA officers stranded.

The group locking UNRA quarters. Photos by Emmanuel Balukusa

The Police in Lugazi is holding four suspects for causing chaos at Kiyindi landing site and at the Kiyindi Ferry Station in Buikwe. The group claims they are the owners of land occupied by Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) staff.

Fred Tenywa, the leader of the group said they inherited the land from their late father Charles Mukasa Lugonda, adding that in 1979, UNRA settled on their land, but it has failed to meet the terms of the agreement.

"We no longer want them here. Since it is a government body, they can resettle on any public land where they will not be asked to pay any penny," Tenywa said.

"We have come with construction materials. We want to develop our land. They should leave today," Tenywa added.

Teywa and group then closed most of the UNRA quarters with new padlocks, including the UNRA latrine, leaving the families of UNRA officers stranded. Their action prompted Kiyindi Police officers led by Afuswa Nikumba to come in and calm the situation.

Nikumba tried to calm the group, but they threatened the Police with machetes and other construction tools they had brought along.

"Nobody can stop the eviction because we are the owners of this land and we have a land title" they said.

alt=''

Tenywa after being arrested by Police led by Nikumba (wearing blue dress)

The group later went and attempted to stop  the ferry  from its normal operations, claiming that the ferrying' s parking area belongs to them.  

This prompted Nikumba to call for more Police reinforcement from Ssezibwa.  Four, out of the seven members who were engaged in demonstrationwere later arrested.

The four are Stephen Kiyimba, Isaac Kagwa, Lydia Nambi and a one Shira. They are being detained at Lugazi Central Police station. The Buikwe district Police commander SP Samuel Madira confirmed their arrest and condemned their actions.

"If they are the owners of the land, they should use the right procedures, but not disorganising the ferry's operations," Madira said.

The Kiyindi-Buvuma ferry transports over 500people a day.

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});