Anxiety as over 30,000 face eviction in Wakiso

Mr Charles Mukalazi, the chairperson of Bussi Sub-county, said the separation of the blocks has created panic among residents in the 11 villages in three parishes of Tebankiza, Gulwe and Bussi.

“The Ministry of Lands team came previously to do the separation of blocks, which were combined, but we failed to agree on the terms and procedures of how this was to be done,” he says.

Mr Mukalazi says the disputed piece of land originally belonged to Sir Apollo Kaggwa, a former prime minister of Buganda Kingdom, but the estate was later divided among his children, who later sold it to the current landlords.

Earlier meeting

He says stakeholders in Bussi previously held a meeting with Ministry of Lands officials before the separation of blocks and they realised there were conflicts of interest, which would bring some challenges in the registration of land titles.

“After convening the meeting, we protested whatever was going to happen and we suggested that they should come and intervene with the landlords so that they can settle that issue amicably,” Mr Mukalazi said.

To their dismay, the sub-county chairperson says the Ministry of Lands officials went ahead to separate the blocks without the consent of the current landlords and local leaders.

“We are now advising the current landlords to mobilise themselves and have uniformity of their land title status, and later develop a file comprising all landlords legally registered by the Lands Ministry to iron out the issues,” he says.

Among the affected landlords is the former Workers’ legislator, Dr Sam Lyomoki.

“We are worried because it [the process of separating blocks] affects all of us. Some pieces of land are overlapping thus encroaching on Lake Victoria buffer zones, which is illegal,” he says.

Mr William Kaddu, a landlord in Bugera Village whose piece of land sits on Block 573 Plots 4,5,6,7,8,9,10, and 11, claims that he has been shifted to Gulwe Village without his consent.

Maj Gen (Rtd) Michael Ondoga, another affected landlord, says they need to involve leaders in the district to first establish facts about the disputed land.

“Someone cannot just wake up one day to separate blocks, In fact no one knew they were even combined. Let’s look deep into this matter and establish the truth,” he suggests.

Second Lieutenant (Rtd) John Kiwanuka, the Bussi Sub-county area land committee chairperson, says the separation of blocks didn’t follow the right procedures as all the stakeholders were sidelined.

Mr Mukasa, however, says the contested piece of land on Block 558, Plot 7, belonged to his late grandfather, Adoniya Mukasa, who acquired it on January 26, 1952. Adoniya was a principal Luwalo inspector in Buganda Kingdom.

He says the land measures 640 acres and stretches from Gulwe, Maggi, Nkuba, and Kyanjazi up to Kagolomoro, touching the waters of Lake Victoria and facing Entebbe and Kigungu.

Claimant speaks out

“My grandfather died in 1993 and my father is the heir. He gave me a share of 100 acres on that land. So, I was given powers of attorney to process titles to remove land from a blue page,” Mr Mukasa explains.

He says in 2015, he was granted permission to conduct boundary opening on the land and all sitting residents know they (the family) are the rightful owners of the land.

“He [grandfather ] gave the then-sitting residents a piece of land to use but they fraudulently sold it to other people and created new plots on our land,” Mr Mukasa says.

Lands officials speak

A source at Wakiso Land Ministry Zonal Office (MZO) revealed that there are other people claiming ownership of the same piece of land where Mr Mukasa conducted boundary opening.

“The new claimants came to the district to seek permission to carry out boundary opening on the same block (Block 558, plot 7) and had all the documents of ownership,” the source said

However, officials at the district declined to give them permission pending the convening of a meeting between both parties.

Mr Dennis Obbo, the Lands Ministry principal communications officer, said they are currently conducting an exercise separating blocks in different parts of the country.

“We are doing this to correct our data but no one will lose their land. After this exercise, the office of surveys and mapping working with the Ministry Zonal Offices, will make a conclusive report,” he said.

However, Mr Obbo said the process of separating blocks has to be made known by all stakeholders.

“I urge residents of Bussi not to panic because our technical team is on the ground to do their work,” he said.

What leaders say.

We are now advising the current landlords to mobilise themselves and have uniformity of their land title status, and later develop a file comprising all landlords legally registered by the Lands Ministry to iron out the issues,” Charles Mukalazi, chairperson of Bussi Sub-county,

The worrying trend

Land has in the last two decades become a sticky issue in many districts across Uganda, especially in the central region, where wealthy people with land titles are evicting poor tenants from what they call their ancestral land claiming that they are illegally settling on the land. In the process of repossessing their land, many landlords have been chased away by angry tenants and in some instances lynched or harmed.