200 Kassanda residents in fear as eviction looms

Over 200 households in the villages of Bukompe and Mirembe, Nalutuntu Sub County in Kassanda District are living in fear, following numerous threats of eviction by the purported landlords.

The disputed land measures 700 acres.

Residents claim that armed men are forcing them to vacate the land despite being the lawful occupants.

“We have titles, but they are telling us to leave, claiming that they are going to give us some land elsewhere, yet we are not sure of it. We do not even know whether what they propose is true,” Mr Julius Turyamureeba, one of the victims said during an interview on Thursday.

 Mr Turyamureeba explained that they settled in the two villages after being evicted from forest reserves in Kiboga District a few years ago.

Other residents claim that the armed people who are threatening them with eviction sometimes assault them.

“We have lost acres of crops, sometimes they graze their cows in our gardens and when we complain, we are not helped, we need justice,” Mr Fred Kayima, a resident of Bukompe Village said.

When journalists visited the affected villages on Wednesday, one person had been arrested and another seriously beaten, but the residents accused the armed people manning the disputed land of being behind all this.

Mr Turyamureeba noted that he was with his colleague Mr Emmanuel Tebesigwa the day before they were attacked and the latter was arrested.

Wamala Regional Police Spokesperson, Ms Racheal Kawala, confirmed Tebesigwa’s arrest saying that he had been handed over to police by the village leaders on allegations of organising a community meeting without their consent.

Ms Kawala said none of the residents at the two villages have reported acts of torture to police.

“We know there is a land dispute between sitting tenants and those who claim to own the land, but none of the residents has reported acts of torture or harassment to police. Let them come to us, we shall investigate ,” she said

Mr Peterson Kamulegeya, the chairperson of Nalutuntu Sub County, said the disputed land is being claimed by two businessmen Mr Abid Alam and Mr  Eria Mubiru and the matter is still in court .

“Some residents are threatened with eviction, but ownership of the land is still under dispute. So the district security committee has since advised that the status quo be maintained until court pronounces itself on the matter,” he said.

On February 28, President Museveni issued a directive prohibiting any eviction even if it is sanctioned by court without the “consent and directive observation of the district security committee chaired by the Resident District Commissioner and direct consultation with the Minister of Lands.”

Land has continued to be a sticky issue in many districts in Central Uganda where wealthy people with land titles are evicting poor tenants from their ancestral land claiming that they are illegal occupants.  It is on this basis that the government is pushing for land reforms, which they say, are aimed at curing rampant evictions in the country. 

Moneyed and politically well-connected individuals with land titles are the ones being accused of evicting poor tenants from their ancestral land.

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