Minister Nabakooba orders arrest of four businessmen over land grabbing

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba, has ordered the arrest of four Iganga-based businessmen for allegedly grabbing government land where Nakalama sub-county headquarters and a seed school are located.

The quartet includes; Hajji Hamdan Nkobe, Said Baga, Deo Wakabi, and Muhammad Swaga.
The Nakalama sub-county LC3 chairman, Mr Hamidu Kawanguzi, said the land measures about 35 acres, adding that technocrats and politicians in Iganga are said to have helped the accused to get land titles on the contested land.

Ms Nabakooba said she learnt about this land row from area leaders, who raised a complaint to her office that the district officials and local leaders are conniving with land grabbers to sell off this land yet the government is planning to develop it.

“Take Hajji Hamdan and retrieve all the documents concerning this land from him. We even need the application forms he used to acquire the land title and also let all the suspects make police statements. They should also tell us who permitted them to sign on the documents when they very well know this is public land,” the minister ordered on Tuesday.

She also directed the Resident District Commissioner to work together with the police to retrieve all the documents from suspected land grabbers and make thorough investigations into the matter before March 11 when they are expected to convene again for a public hearing.

“We are going to use this time, between now and March 11, to retrieve all the paperwork, application forms, the titles, interview and interrogate those people who are involved,” she said.
She further cautioned leaders and government officials against selling government properties, saying “it will land them into trouble”.

Ms Nabakooba added: “You are shaming us if you have started descending on government land and selling it for self-interests. This land has a school that has existed for almost 40 years and the sub-county headquarters.”

It is alleged that Hajj Nkobe initially had four acres of land on the sub-county land and later acquired more than four acres through the sub-county chief (Wakabi), and the area lands officials who signed the documents and gave him the title.

Mr Kawanguzi said they tried to drag the land grabbers to courts of law but lost the case.
“Court looked at his documents and they got a handwriting expert who told us it is true the land was sold and the documents were signed,” he said.

He added that the district legal officer advised them to withdraw the case from court and deal with the suspect out of court to save government money.

Suspect speaks out
Mr Nkobe said the land belonged to their late father and not the sub-county.
“Our late father had only verbally given this land to the parish for a temporary office, but not the sub-county,” he said, adding that the sub-county authorities do not have papers indicating ownership of this land.

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