SFC guards, police rescue MP Nantaba, landlord from irate tenants

Former State minister for Lands, Idah Nantaba and a landlord on Sunday evening survived being lynched by angry land tenants in Lugasa village, Kahonza Sub County in Kayunga District. 

Ms Nantaba, who is also the Kayunga District Woman Member of Parliament had accompanied Rev Can Yusuf Turyomwe who claims to be the landlord of a 40-acre contentious piece of land in Lugasa village to meet his tenants. 

The meeting scheduled at Lugasa primary school was, according to Can Turyomwe, 80, intended to convince tenants to allow him open boundaries of his land after which he would discuss with them how much busuulu (annual ground rent) they would pay him.

However, tempers flared after Ms Nantaba grabbed a microphone from the Kayonza Sub County LCIII chairman, Mr John Muramuzi and started addressing the residents. She accused Mr Muramuzi and Mr Charles Tebandeke (Member of Parliament for Bbaale County in Kayunga District) of taking bribes from alleged land grabbers and abetting acts of land grabbing.

"Tebandeke tabled a motion before Parliament to sell off Bajjo Central Forest reserve after he was given a bribe and your LCIII chairman who is now pretending to be fighting for you so that you are not evicted from your land has been asking for bribes from this landlord. I have evidence [indicating that] the LCIII chairman was given a bribe of Shs3 million," Ms Nantaba said.

However, this did not go down well with both Mr Tebandeke and Mr Muramuzi who were present at the meeting. They dismissed Ms Nantaba’s accusations as false.
The angry tenants also rubbished Ms Nantaba’s claims and demanded that she addresses the issue of the Lugasa land that had prompted the meeting.

"You are a liar! We want you to address issues of this land only," the tenants chorused.

Ms Nantaba who had already lost her cool accused the tenants of not appreciating her efforts in fighting for their rights. 
She paced with the microphone towards one of the female tenants who were booing as they dismissed her claims. Ms Nantaba confronted the lady, only identified as Shakirah before the irate residents pounced on Ms Nantaba and tried to beat her up.

The other group pounced on the elderly landlord and started slapping him before Ms Nantaba’s Special Forces Command (SFC) guards swung into action to rescue her. 

The guards beat up some of the residents in attempt to rescue their principal and the landlord. 
As tempers continued to flare, Ms Nantaba fled the scene amid tight security, leaving Can Turyomwe in trouble.

However, he was rescued by police officers from Kayonza who arrived at the scene on time.

Can Turyomwe was driven off to Kayunga central police station where the Officer in Charge, Mr Raymond Odong asked him to avail documents to prove ownership of the land.
Can Turyomwe said he bought the land from the late Kitaka Gawera in 2018.
However, Mr Tebandeke accused Can Turyomwe of acquiring the land title through fraudulent means and that it should be cancelled to cushion the tenants from eviction.

When contacted after the fracas, Ms Nantaba who accused tenants of politicising the land issue said she had backed off the matter. 
"I have left the matter. Let them handle it with their landlord because I wanted to help them to negotiate with their landlord but they seem not to understand this," Ms Nantaba told this reporter.

Ms Nantaba was on August 15, 2012 appointed state minister for lands by President Museveni in a cabinet reshuffle after she claimed to fight against land grabbing in Kayunga District. 
She was later appointed State Minister for ICT in another Cabinet reshuffle after what Mr Museveni termed as "mixing politics" in land matters. In 2019, she was dropped as minister.