Kilembe steps in to halt encroachment on golf course

Kilembe Mines Golf Club management and the Uganda Golf Union have stepped in to stop encroachment on one the oldest and one of five 18-hole golf courses in the country.

Taking advantage of the current lockdown, unscrupulous people had invaded the Kilembe Mines Golf Club (KMGC) land and portioned parts of the course for private houses and farming.

One of the houses had gone above the foundation stage while the plants in the gardens are also doing well.

But according to the KMGC captain Paul Kasaija, they were trying to find a solution with law enforcement and the political leadership in the district to halt the encroachment.

"We know the encroachers; they are locals from around and some district officials.  For now, we are trying to do what we can that will hinder any further development," Kasaija said.

"We have been promised decisive action by the political leadership though this seems questionable because we are going into the politicking season which makes it tricky, but law enforcement is on our side and we have had due consultation and discussion with the regional police officials, which seem to be helping.

"We are going to demolish the house that was put up on Friday, with a combination of law enforcement and Kilembe Mines Limited," Kasaija stated.

Uganda Golf Union president Moses Matsiko had earlier also vowed to work with Kilembe Mines management to ‘to wipe out the trespassers'.

"Not even an inch of golf facility will be taken without our fight. Golf courses bring balance to the echo system in most municipalities in Uganda, so why should anyone rob that necessity. The government should help us in this fight," Matsiko noted. "We already engaged the mayor and police,"

Many unscrupulous people around the country have taken advantage of the current lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic to grab land for their own benefit as the country sleeps through this period.

Many golf courses and golf clubs have always had ‘fights' with land grabbers who don't seem to grasp the need and uses of such vast land; with some courses saving their land after court battles, while some lost out due to political interference.

Courses like the Masaka Golf Course have already lost part of its land to a Bank of Uganda currency center while others in Jinja, Mbale, Lira, West Nile and Soroti among others have running battles with commercial developers who have always wanted to use part of the courses for other purposes.

The Lira golf course had in particular been turned into a grazing field and a crossing point for pedestrians while part of the land for the West Nile Club was earmarked for a market.

At Kliembe, buildings have been constructed on the edge of fairways 5 and 17 while there are gardens on fairways 5, 15, and 16 with a one Panado Muhenka, a member of the Muhenka family well known for grabbing land and selling it in Kasese, behind the brokerage of the land.

Established in the 1950s, The Kilembe Mines Golf Course established itself as one of the best courses in East Africa. With the demise of the Kilembe Mines the club began a slow and bumpy ride towards an uncertain future.

But efforts to revamp one of the only five 18-hole golf courses in the country were on until the latest developments.

During the colonial era almost each and every district in Uganda had a golf course. Golf courses play an important role in sports tourism and recreation for both locals and foreign tourists.