10,000 residents block land giveaway to Pastor Kakande

They claim district officials have in the past frustrated all their efforts to regularise their tenancy on the land, claiming that it is a forest reserve. The affected residents are spread in 56 villages.

“We have settled on this land for more than 50 years. We have on several occasions tried to regularise our tenancy but each time we go to the district, we are told that this area is a forest reserve and no individual is allowed to own it. When was it de-gazetted to enable Pastor Kakande take it?” says Mr Katongole.

He claims ownership of four acres of the land where he grows coffee, bananas and seasonal crops such as maize and beans for home consumption.

“It is a pity that Pastor Kakande and his colleagues are moving around with documents claiming ownership of our land, but we are saying no and not ready to vacate,” Mr Katongole adds.
Pastor Kakande already owns rice schemes in Kibaale, Masindi and Masaka districts.

However, he was recently faulted by the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led Commission of Inquiry into land matters for destroying wetlands on the shores of Lake Victoria in Masaka and ordered to halt all his activities.

Mr Yosamu Tandeka, the Manyogaseka Sub-county chairperson, says various people have in the past come up, claiming ownership of the disputed land but residents have chased them away.

“We cannot allow this to happen. We are going to put up a spirited fight to defend our land because it is the only valuable resource we have,” says Mr Tandeka.

Mr Simeo Nsubuga, the Kasanda South MP who met some of the affected residents at Manyogaseka Secondary School last week, describes Pastor Kakande’s land acquisition in the area as a planned scheme to displace his electorates who have lived on the land for decades. “We cannot allow land grabbers to continue conniving with the corrupt district land board officials. They have gone ahead to produce a fraudulent title, thus rendering the sitting tenants homeless. Come rain or shine, we should cancel these titles because neither Kakande nor his partners own a single piece of Kibanja on that land,” says Mr Nsubuga.

Daily Monitor has seen two copies of freehold land titles which Mubende District issued to Pastor Kakande.

One of the titles is in the names of Mechanised Agro Uganda Limited where Pastor Kakande is the biggest shareholder. Other shareholders are Mr Jonathan Byabasaija, Ms Joy Male, Mr Jonson Mwanguzi and Ms Eva Nakatudde.

The land titles
Mechanised Agro Uganda Limited was allocated 13 square miles on Block 436, Plot 33 in Ndeeba Village, Kiganda Sub- county. The second title is in the names of Pride Chick Uganda Ltd where Pastor Kakande and his secretary, Ms Noeline Ndagire, are shareholders.

The land, measuring 13 square miles, is on Block 436, Plot 34, in Lwakabuutu Village, Singo. Both titles were issued on August 4, 2016.

However, Mr Emmanuel Ssempala, the secretary Mubende District Land Board, dismisses claims by sitting tenants that the district denied them an opportunity to regularise their tenancy.

“We only received applications from those two firms, which were backed by the report from the area land committee stating that they were genuine companies and free to acquire titles within that area. We perused through the files, the land was surveyed, the files were taken to Entebbe and later on the titles were issued,” he adds.

He advised the tenants to formerly petition the district if they feel they were unfairly treated.

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