Political rivals using land dispute to malign me, MP Ssekikubo

Outspoken Lwemiyaga County legislator, Mr Theodore Ssekikubo, says his political rivals are using a family entangled in a land dispute with a landlord to bring him down.

The bone of contention is on a 623 acre piece of land at Ntyazo Village, Nyabitanga Sub County, Lwemiyaga County, part of which Mr Ssekikubo bought 180 acres.

The family of the late Ezekiel Rwankanyuzi accuses Mr Ssekikubo of abandoning them in their quest to reclaim 623 acres of land from Mr Cresensio Mukasa Bagaruhayo and instead chose to buy part of the same piece of land from the latter.

In his explanation, Ssekikubo, who has been Lwemiyaga legislator for 25 years, says he bought the piece of land after establishing that Mr Bagaruhayo was the rightful landlord for Buddu Block 31, Plot 1 through a protracted court battle. He said Mr Bagaruhayo had through negotiations agreed to give 300 acres to the late Rwankanyuzi’s family which also occupies the same land, but after being misguided by his political rivals, the family rejected the offer.

“I was personally affected and I am the one who got lawyers to go to court, but when we got defeated by Bagaruhayo, I realised that we had to sit with him and forge a way forward. I had already paid some money for my piece of land, but to regain my Kibanja, I had to surrender 68 cows to the landlord. The family of Rwankwanyuzi instead chose to continue fighting a losing battle and the landlord eventually pushed them off the land,” Mr Ssekikuubo said in an interview on Monday.  

He also lashed out at Brig Gen Emmanuel Rwashande, the chief of civil- military cooperation in UPDF, of trying to ride on the Ntwazo land dispute to gain political capital ahead of the 2026 general election.

“I hear he [Brig Rwashande] wants to contest in Lwemiyaga County, let him resign his position in the army and come in the political ring, I am ready for him,” he said, challenging those who claim that he took their land to seek legal redress.

“I am not above the law. Let them go to court if they have proof that Mzee Bagaruhayo sold their piece of land to me,” he added.  

Mr Bagaruhayo confirmed that he is the one who sold 180 acres of land to Mr Ssekikubo at Ntwazo Village.

“I heard people dragging Ssekikubo in this, he paid for his piece of land and I don’t have any issues with him, let those who have a claim on my land go to court, I will defeat them like I have done before,” he said.

Brig Rwashande said he picked interest in the land dispute because of the office he holds and has no political ambitions in Lwemiyaga as Mr Ssekikubo claims.

“I can't stand [for MP] because I am still a serving military officer, I have served for a long period of time and I want to retire. I am fulfilling my mandate as a chief of civil -military cooperation in UPDF. I advise Bagarugayo and his group to stop harassing occupants on that land and wait for the Supreme Court verdict,” he said.

Like Luweero, Nakaseke, Kayunga and Mubende, Sembabule is another district in central Uganda which is a hot  bed of land wrangles .