Relief for Mityana Residents as Lands Minister Intervenes to Bring Calm in Disputed Lands

As land grabbing continues raging different parts of the country with the prevalent number of cases coming from the central, Lands Minister, Hon Judith Nabakooba has tried to reach out to locals on the ground to establish the root cause.

Nabakooba yesterday met residents from Kabule and Miggo villages in Mityana municipality where land was sold by the family members and the new landlords are trying to terrorize people, threatening eviction.

To restore sanity in the area, she halted activities of boundary opening, ground rent (Busuulu) collection by the landlords to create ample time for her to look through their documents and establish the rightful owner.
“I do not want to hear that there is a landlord who has come on the ground before we finalize our investigations to determine whether their titles are in the system. Be patient we shall tell you the way forward," she directed.

The minister said she does not expect any person to attempt evicting people and forcing Bibanja holders to give them part of their land promising them land titles. She asked residents to be more vigilante and report to the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) in case of people trying to tresspas in the land such that they can be arrested.
“I want those people to be identified and we work on them. We can’t accept the peace of Ugandans to be interrupted when we are here,” she said.

Mr Faizo Luyima who has 168 acres on this land said he bought the land well-knowing all the issues and upon becoming a landlord, he promised not to evict anyone. He however said they are two landlords on the land and it is his counterpart, Mr Abbas Ssentenza who usually comes on the ground armed to intimidate people. 
“I had given all Bibanja holders enough time and come October they are aware of paying me my Busuulu," he clarified.

Ms Prossy Mwanjuzi, the acting RDC of Mityana said she is going to arrest any landlord who attempts to do any activity on the contested land following the minister’s directive of halting all the activities.
 “Let them stay warned because we need to give the minister time to look through those documents and she will guide us on the what to do next," she noted.