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Shs500m tree: Caretaker warns Unra of ‘misfortunes’
People stare at Nabukalu tree on the Mpigi-Kampala Expressway in Mabuye Village, Mpigi District on March 10, 2022. PHOTO/ ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- A court has ruled in favour of Unra in a case against a claimant belonging to Lugave Clan who was seeking Shs500 million compensation for the purported sacred tree.
Mr Hussein Katamba, the caretaker of the site and kibanja where the Buganda clan of Lugave (Pangolin)’s sacred tree, the home of their ancestral spirits, was seated before the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) insisted on cutting it down has warned the Roads Authority officials of what might befall them.
Mr Katamba said he might have been defeated in the legal process but he will not allow losing the spiritual war between the ‘tree’ referred to as Nabukalu found at Mabuye Village, Mpigi District.
“They chose to take matters into their courts and they have won. I don’t want to comment on this matter because the spirits know what is happening. They might have refused to give me what I asked for (Shs500m) but I know they will one day come before me begging to pay me Shs1b,” Mr Katamba warned in a telephone interview with Daily Monitor yesterday.
The court in Mpigi yesterday ruled in favour of Unra in a case against the claimant who was seeking Shs500 million compensation for the purported sacred tree.
In a ruling delivered on behalf of Justice Anthony Ojuk Ojokt, Mpigi High Court Assistant Registrar Justine Atukwasa said Mr Katamba, the caretaker of the site, should instead get the Shs4.6m that Unra initially offered for the piece of land.
The clan owns a cultural site sitting on 0.083 acres at Mabuye Village, Mpigi District, where members go to seek blessings. There is a huge tree that the Lugave Clan members in Buganda Kingdom consider sacred.
Early this week, Works minister Gen Katumba Wamala said the government was ready to give Shs150m to the clan leaders to facilitate the relocation of the site to another place, but the latter rejected the offer, saying it could not “appease the clan spirits”.
Yesterday, Mr Katamba told this newspaper that the fight is not yet over.
“There are misfortunes coming for them and if they don’t get them, well and good. What I can tell you now is that we are now going spiritual as a clan,” he said.
Yesterday, Daily Monitor visited the sacred tree and out of observation, there had been spiritual ceremonies conducted at the foot of the tree, which is speculated to have been standing for the last 300 years.
Mr Possiano Ngondwe, 52, the original owner of the piece of land, said he sold the small piece of land to Mr Katamba who used to lead his fellow cultural members into worship twice a month.
“When I saw that it had grown, I went and pruned it but they told me they got misfortunes and they lost jobs. I decided to give up the small piece where the tree sits to them because that is what they believe in. They have been pulling ropes with Unra since then,” Mr Ngondwe said.
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