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Army, police, Judiciary grabbing land - report
The report reveals that the army and police aided investors to evict people from the sub-counties of Kitumbi, Bukuyu, Madadu and Nalutuntu. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The vice. According to the report, highly-placed individuals collude with security agencies and the Judiciary to rob ordinary Ugandans of their land.
- According to the 56 page report, although there are cases of fraud in the land registration office, including multiple titling, forgeries of letters of administration and court orders to illegally obtain registration, the Lands ministry is doing nothing to help the local people.
KAMPALA. A new report on land grabbing in Mubende District has named the army, police and Judiciary in violent displacement of residents and land grabbing in the district.
The report reveals that the army and police aided investors to evict people from the sub-counties of Kitumbi, Bukuyu, Madadu and Nalutuntu.
The findings, that come at the time of the ongoing inquiry into land matters, have revealed “a worrying trend” of highly-placed individuals colluding with security agencies and the Judiciary to rob ordinary Ugandans of their land.
The report titled: “Land in Mubende; guns, money and power grabbed over 1,975, 834 hectares of land,” adds that there is a disturbing relationship between government officials, security personnel, politicians ganging up and using the Judiciary to evict locals from their land.
The study was conducted by WitnessRadio.org, a non-governmental organisation involved in documenting land conflicts in Uganda, between September 2016 and November 2017, using interviews with victims of land grabbing in Mubende.
While releasing the findings of the report in Kampala recently, the executive director WitnessRadio.org, Mr Geoffrey Wokulira Sebagala, accused the army of criminalising, arresting and detaining residents they find on land with a view of evicting them.
Forceful evictions
“Many people have been evicted from their land, they are living as squatters on other peoples’ land. Our research found out that 24 out of 25 cases were forceful evictions, affecting 265, 502 households,” Mr Sebagala said.
He added: “In Mubende, our research found out that government officials, security agents and politicians are ganging up [against locals] and unlawfully evicting entire communities, leaving them homeless and in untold suffering.”
However, the UPDF spokesperson, Brig Richard Karemire, dismissed the report as baseless, saying it is intended to destroy the image of the army.
“How do you say UPDF is involved when it is individuals? UPDF has land in Mubende, so we can’t grab land that belongs to the people,” he said by phone yesterday.
The police spokesperson, Mr Emilian Kayima, also dismissed the contents of the report as baseless. “The police as an institution can’t get involved in committing such crimes, this is absolutely no,” he said.
He explained that if there are individuals in the police who are involved, the researchers should name them and as police, they will take them on under the law.
According to the 56 page report, although there are cases of fraud in the land registration office, including multiple titling, forgeries of letters of administration and court orders to illegally obtain registration, the Lands ministry is doing nothing to help the local people.
Other accusations
The report says public institutions such as police, UPDF, office of the Resident District Commissioner, district land boards, prosecutors and courts of law, mandated to protect indigenous communities and their properties, have been caught red-handed protecting workers of businessmen to commit gross human abuses ranging from gang rape, torture, participating in illegal arrests, detentions and land evictions.
