Land wrangle: Security guards scare residents in six villages in Nakasongola
A survivor of gun violence, Mr Dan Ssebyala displays the empty bullet shells abandoned by security guards that attacked his home at Ndaiga village in Nakasongola District in August 2023. PHOTO/ DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- Nakasongola Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Abel Bakunda said the District Security committee had taken up the investigations surrounding the shooting incidents in Kikooge Village.
Private security guards in Nakasongola District continue to scare residents in six villages while protecting disputed land.
On February 19, security guards near Kikooge R/C Primary School shot in the air and scared off pupils, staff and members of the community.
This has raised safety concerns for more than 300 children studying at the school.
While the security guards claim that the Monday shooting incident near the school compound was accidental, residents want the office of the President to investigate the misuse of guns and illegal evictions at Kikooge Village.
Residents also want President Museveni to reign in on the alleged misuse of guns by private security guards deployed to protect disputed land.
Mr Abdul Ssenozi, the chairperson of Kikooge Village revealed that some of the guards deployed by Mr Jotham Mafende, who claims ownership of a disputed five square mile land, shoot in the air to scare off the residents from their respective bibanja land. Mr Mafende allegedly wants parents and children to abandon the public School.
“We are scared that our children could be shot dead by the guards that keep shooting at the residents. The District officials are powerless and have failed to check the misuse of guns by the security guards deployed by Mr Jotham Mafende at Kikooge Village,” Mr Ssenozi told Monitor on February 21.
Parents and concerned residents gathered at Kikooge Primary school that faces eviction from a landlord in Lwabyata Sub-county, Nakasongola District on February 21, 2024. PHOTO/DAN WANDERA
Mr Tobby Erabu, the Deputy Head teacher at Kikooge R/C Primary School explained that the Monday morning gunshots near the school compound followed a training session by the guards that kept attracting the attention of the pupils that had already settled in their respective classes.
“The children and teachers got scared after the gun shots that came in two separate intervals of about five minutes near the school latrines. We are scared about the activities of the armed guards. Since the school is among the targeted properties for eviction, we believe that the shooting incidents are intentional,” he said.
At Ndaiga Village in Lwabyata Sub County, Mr Dan Ssebyala who is among the hundreds of residents who claim to have lost bigger sections of their land to Mr Mafende is also a victim of gun violence by security guards deployed at Kikooge Village.
“I was confronted by four armed guards who shot in the air after I resisted arrest in August 2023. The guards shot at me when I resisted the eviction. My family members helped me pick up the spent bullet shells abandoned by the guards after the shooting incident,” he said.
"We are helpless because even the police in the area have not come to our rescue," Mr Ssebyala told Monitor as he displayed the spent bullet shells recovered at his compound on February 21.
Nakasongola Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Abel Bakunda said the District Security committee had taken up the investigations surrounding the shooting incidents in Kikooge Village.
About the land
The disputed land is part of the public land covering about 5 square miles in six villages that include; Wangoma, Ndaiga, Kyadobo, Kalwala, Katuba, Kikooge and Kikuuta in Lwabyata Sub County, Nakasongola District. The land on LVR 1030 Folio 14 Bulemezi , Block 12, Plot 5 is at the centre of a land ownership conflict between Mr Jotham Mafende and an estimated 4,000 residents, the church, public school and a government health unit.
