Top UPDF soldier in land fight with family of his former driver

A senior soldier with the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) is involved in a land fight with the family of his late driver.

The family of deceased Ibrahim Kumali contends that Maj Jimmy Katende is in the process of evicting them from a plot of land in which they have stayed for the last 18 years. The land in question is in Busega Kibumiro Zone, Rubaga Division.

The widow, Ms Sylivia Namee insists her husband bought the contested land from the UPDF soldier.

“Now we don't know where to go. My husband purchased this land from the Major when he was still his driver but when we lost him in 2017, we started receiving letters and warnings from the Major to vacate the land,” Namee said at the weekend.

She added that: “After receiving numerous letters of eviction, we had to resort to court hoping that we shall get justice but the Major had connections everywhere and the magistrate court delayed giving us a ruling on who is the true owner.”

The family that has since petitioned President Museveni through the office of Resident City Commission (RCC) Aminah Lukanga, argue that the eviction letters are from or by an intruder.

In a letter dated November 3, 2022, the RCC asked Maj Katende to stop evictions on the land in question, saying “the family had appealed against the orders which are pending determination in the magistrate court.”

The complaining family told Monitor that dialogue was organized by Lukanga but Maj Katende did not turn up.

Now, Namee alleges that she was in a village last week when information reached her that the soldier had evicted them amidst a pending court case.

But in a telephone interview with this publication last week, Maj Katende asked Kumali’s family to seek redress from a court he cited for ordering their eviction.

“Refer them to the court which decided the matter. Let them not waste your time over that. It was a court order which decided,” Maj Katende maintained.