Church, police clash over land
The disputed land in Bushenyi District. PHOTO / MILTONBANDIHO
What you need to know:
- The church gave police part of its land in the early 1990s to establish a station. However, the church claims the police has expanded the station to other parts of its land without its authorisation. The police deny the claims.
All Saints Archdeaconry, West Ankole Diocese of the Church of Uganda and the police in Bushenyi District are embroiled in a land wrangle.
The church gave police part of its land in the early 1990s to establish a station. However, the church claims the police has expanded the station to other parts of its land without its authorisation. The police deny the claims.
On Tuesday, the All Saints Archdeaconry leader, Rev Bethel Namara, said: “We are protesting the police’s action. We woke up only to find boundary markstones almost touching the altar.”
He added: “They (police) never consulted us on what they were going to do, the church has its land title which we acquired in 2017.”
The Rev Namara said they gave the police part of the land following a request from the Force. He added that they want to use the land the police have allegedly encroached on to establish income-generating activities.
“We want to use our land and we have asked the police to vacate to enable us carry out some income-generating projects. We want to use part of the land for parking but they resisted,” the Rev Namara said.
In 2020, the West Ankole Diocese under which the church falls, through SOCIIS PATH Advocates petitioned the chairperson of the Uganda Land Commission over the matter.
“It has come to our client’s notice that in the process of surveying and opening of boundaries of land occupied by Uganda Police Force in Bushenyi, the land belonging to our client was encroached on and/or trespassed upon and as such, part of it was wrongly and illegally demarcated as land belonging to police,” a September 18, 2020 letter signed by Mr Marvin Baryaruha, the West Ankole Diocesan chancellor, states.
“The purpose of this communication, therefore, is to ask you to direct that another survey be conducted and the said error be rectified,” the letter adds.
Mr Marshal Tumusiime, the Greater Bushenyi regional police spokesperson, on Tuesday said they received a letter from Church of Uganda in 2019 instructing police to remove the uniports and vacate the land within 14 days.
“When we received the letter, we had to reach the directorate of engineering and logistics and a team of surveyors and a search was made for land title and now we have our own,” he said.
Mr Tumusiime confirmed the police’s installation of the boundary mark stones.
“We have no intention of demolishing the church. The exercise that was done aimed at showing demarcation of the police land, police and church each have a land title, and I think one of the titles has a mistake,” he said.
Mr Micheal Kamugisha, the Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality physical planner, said the warring parties have not sought assistance from his department.
“We have not received any complaint from any of the two, so we cannot get involved,” he said.
