Locals blocked from burying relatives on disputed land

A businesswoman has allegedly blocked residents of Bumufuni Sub-County in Bulambuli District from burying their loved ones on land she claims ownership.

Ms Rose Wekomba, a wife of Mr Stephen Wekomba, a businessman, claims she bought land covering four villages in the sub-county in 2015 and has a title as proof of ownership.

The affected villages are Busonge, Buwesonga,  Buwanjala, and Bubulo in Bumufuni and Buwesonga parishes.

Since 2015, locals and Ms Wekomba have had disputes over the said land.

The conflict worsened last September following the death of Francis Amilimo, 89, a resident of Busonge Village.

Amilimo died on September 25, 2023 and locals later gathered for his burial ceremony. However, police stopped the ceremony.

Police, as seen in a video clip captured on that day by one of the locals, picked the body from the late’s house and took it to Mbale City mortuary amid protests from the locals.

Some locals were arrested and later released.

“The spirits keep disturbing us at night complaining why we have not buried him. It’s now five months and the body is still in the mortuary,” Mr Peter Wekesa, a grandson to the deceased, said.

Ms Wekomba said the late Amilimo sold her the land, which Daily Monitor  learned is about 300 acres, a claim Amilimo’s relatives deny. They said Ms Wekomba used fraudulent means to acquire part of Amilimo’s land.

Late Amilimo’s family is one of about 550 families that are currently living and practising mostly subsistence farming on the disputed 1,503 acres of land in Bumufuni, one of the sub-counties with high cases of land grabbing in Bulambuli.

“We are not allowed to bury our relatives or grow crops on our ancestral land to sustain our families and yet we have never sold her [Ms Wekomba] our land,”Mr George Wamalwa, one of the elders, said.

The Chairperson of Bumufuni Sub-county, Mr Joseph Wakamala, confirmed that police carried Amilimo’s body but said he doesn’t know where it is now.

Last week, locals and Ms Wekomba met the Senior Registrar of Titles in Mbale region, Mr Joseph Kibande, at the Ministry of Lands Regional Office in Mbale. During the meeting, locals asked the government to cancel the land title.

“We are being displaced and denied access to our land. This is not fair but concerned government institutions are slow to help us,” Mr Fred Nguni, the chairperson of complainants, said.

Mr Oscar Twanga, a complainant, said the dispute started in 2014 when him and four other relatives wanted to survey their family  land of about 400 acres.

He said: “When they realised that the surveyor had surveyed more land than what they own as a family, they tried to caveat the same title without success for several months when locals whose land had been captured were threatening to harm us.”

“Later I was arrested and detained at Bulambuli Police Station from where I was transferred to Upland Building in Mbale Town and later at Hilltop Hotel at about 8pm…While at Hilltop Hotel, I was forced to sign the transfer of the title in the name of Rose Wekomba. The other four family members also signed. Later she sent me Shs1m, which I used as transport back home in Bulambuli,” Mr Twanga said.

In a January 27, 2016 letter by Mr Bernard Nalera, then chairperson of the area land committee of Bunambutye Sub-county, to the commissioner registration of land titles, he maintained that the land title was issued fraudulently.

“On May 10, 2015, the title holders wrote to my office and copied to your respective offices stopping any transaction on this land but with great dismay, the current title holder went ahead and transferred the title in her name,” Mr Nalera’s letter reads in part.

However, Ms Wekomba, during last week’s meeting, denied any wrongdoing .

“I agreed with the five people whose names were on the title. They sold to me the land and I paid them before they transferred the title into my name,” she said.

Ms Wekomba, however, said if the government cancels her title, it will have to pay her.

The Elgon Police Spokesperson, Mr Rogers Taitika, when contacted said he needed more time to find out the details on the disputed land.