KIKUUBE-Residents in Kikuube district who were worried about losing their land to fraudsters can now sleep for a while after the State Minister for Lands, Sam Mayanja ordered the cancellation of over 18 land titles alleged to have been acquired illegally.
The illegal land titles ordered for cancellation include one where Buhaguzi East Member of Parliament Steven Asera and two other people are implicated.
The Minister made the orders last Thursday during a meeting held between residents of Musainjamukuru village in Buhimba Sub-county and Kikuube district leader district on Thursday at Musainjamukuru Catholic church
During the meeting, the Minister ordered that all the contested land titles that were presented to him by Kikuube resident district commissioner [RDC] Amlan Tumusiime, be canceled immediately.
The land titles to be canceled include one for a disputed piece of land in Musainjamukuru measuring 127.5590 hectares on plot 172, block 22, and another measuring 297.664 hectares in Mukabara village in Kiziranfumbi sub-county.
These are alleged to have been processed by Nyabongo Ochaki, a legislator for Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Rukurato, and Job Muhumuza, a Kampala-based businessman.
The land title covers three villages Musaijamukuru and Musaijamukuru B and Kibingo with over 20,000 residents.
The Minister’s visit to Kikuube followed a petition by Kikuube RDC Tumusiime whose office had received complaints from the residents.
The minister said that information presented by the accused MP Asera and the area land committee was enough to confirm that the land was illegally acquired and ordered for their cancellation.
Other land titles which were presented to Minister and ordered for cancelation include a freehold title, measuring measures 501 hectares covering all six villages of Ndongo, Kisoba, Kahara, Nyanseke, Nyakabaale, and Hohwa villages, in Kaseeta parish, Kabwoya lower Sub-county
The land hosting more than 1,700 families is alleged to have been registered in the names of Amos Munsiime Kurotaro and Gideon Tumwebaze, Sarah Mbabazi and Benon Tulinawe, and Matayo Butere and Aidah Bandonda in 2020.
Another land title measuring 47 acres belongs to Richard Kavuma Dickman. Kavuma is alleged to have evicted 50-year-old man Bernard Rwabwisho and his family of Kabango village Bubongo parish in Kabwoya Sub-county after he bought the land title from Kabango Farmers Group.
Another land that the Minister ordered for cancellation is the land title measuring 160 acres illegally titled by Edward Birungi and Zerubaberi Ruboha.
Birungi and Ruboha are accused of titling one acre of land belonging to Lucy Bisereko Health Centre III in Kinogonzi parish in Buhimba sub-county as they were titling his land
Apart from complaints from the management of the health center, Yona Buguma and Jovan Kyeyune are also accusing the two of grabbing their land as they processed the title for the land title.
Another disputed land title belongs to businessman William Mugabe Binoijo measuring 235 hectares on plot 70, block 2 in Rwengabi village Kaseeta parish in Kabwoya Sub-county Kikuube district and it was processed in 2012.
The land is claimed by over 300 families who insist that it is communal. They said Mugabe had 25 acres of land in the area but encroached on the communal land while acquiring the land title.
The Minister ordered the RDC Tumusiime to compile the disputed land titles and submit them to the Ministry of Lands so that the process of canceling the titles begins.
Hoima
The Minister also held a meeting at Hoima Kolping Hotel with leaders and some of the affected people and ordered the arrest of Prince Pastor Steven Kyebambe for allegedly grabbing a piece of land that belongs to Anatori Girayitima, a resident of Kachungiro village in Kinogozi parish, Buhimba Sub-county.
Pastor Kyebambe and Girayitima have been feuding over the land measuring 68 acres. The Minister also ordered for the cancellation of Pastor Kyebambe’s land title and ordered the RDC to settle the family of Girayitima back on their land.
He also ordered RDC Tumusiime to settle the family of Bernard Rwabwisho who was evicted from his land.
Minister Mayanja also ordered State House Anti-corruption Unit to arrest all area land area committee and district land officers who have been implicated in illegal titling of land titles in the district.
He noted this would serve as an example to others in different parts of the country who have been engaging in such acts.
Kikuube district Woman Member of Parliament, Florence Natumanya demanded that Masindi Lands Zonal officers be punished for abetting land grabbing in the area. The Minister ordered the state house anti-corruption unit to investigate the alleged corruption in the office.
“I have ordered the State House Anti-corruption Unit to carry out an investigation of all the land titles which were processed 10 years back and if they find land titles that were processed without following the right procedures, these land titles will be canceled,” he said.
RDC Tumusiime promised to submit to the land ministry a list of the contested land titles in two weeks.
He said Kikuube district is overwhelmed by the increasing land conflicts, adding the minister’s intervention is a big relief to his office and to the community who have been having sleepless nights.
MP Steven Asera welcomed minister Mayanja’s directive to cancel the titles, saying that he is innocent much as his name was included on a fraudulent land title.
Peter Banura Kikuube, district chairperson called on the government to review the land fund policy if the challenge of land grabbing in the country is to be addressed.
However, Nyabongo Ochaki, one of those accused of processing titles illegally insisted they went through the rightful procedures. Commenting on minister orders, Nyabongo said that, “Land titles are not canceled by words.”
https://thecooperator.news/bunyoro-mp-implicated-in-land-grabbing-scandal/
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