Bushenyi councillors task CAO to have district land titled

The Bushenyi District council has tasked the Chief Administration Officer (CAO) to have all government land in the area titled.

Councilors were responding to a report by the Bushenyi District land Board chairman Paul Tusubira showing that the district had proposed land owned by West Ankole Diocese for construction of the high court.

The said land neighbors the state lodge, and is directly opposite with the district administration block in Katungu Cell, Central Division in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality.

“This council must look for another piece of land of at least two acres because the one we have been looking at was acquired by the diocese 20 years ago. We cannot afford to lose a high court because of land,” Tusubira said during council meeting on Monday.

Tusubira noted that although the district has been claiming ownership of the land, the diocese has a valid land tittle for the same piece of land which means that the district will lose out.

Kakanju Sub-County councillor Adinan Tumuhiirwe claimed technocrats have been encroaching on government land due to lack of titles.  

“We must as Bushenyi District local government interest ourselves on this matter. Otherwise, it will be on record that during our time the Bushenyi District lost most of its land," he said.

Bushenyi District Chairman Jafari Basajjabalaba told the councilors that the land in mention is still contested.

“I am not here to fight the church but the land belongs to Bushenyi District local government, and we are working around the clock to ensure that the High Court Land is provided as soon as possible. We have other plots of land, we can give to Judiciary,” he said.

“We have alerted the lower local councils to start on titling all our lands because as the district executive, we have learnt that most of our land is being encroached on because they do not have titles,” he added.  

Asked to comment on the remarks, West Ankole Diocese information officer Bright Niwaha said the “district knows the truth about the matter.”

“When we brought the land savior, we found that the land falls in our land title and you know if you have the land title you have the land,” he noted.

CAO John Nyakahuma told Monitor that he is new in the district but pledged to check in the district registry to have the real number of land in need of titling.

“I am going to instruct all lower local councils to start the process because we must begin from there,” he remarked.