A team of security officers led by Mbarara Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Captain Martha Asiimwe, on the orders of President Yoweri Museveni have intervened to save more than 100 families in Mbarara from being evicted.
Capt. Martha and a team of officials from the Lands Commission last week Wednesday moved to save residents from being evicted by tycoons who claim to have formally obtained the land.
More than 400 residents of Kakiika division in Mbarara municipality are facing eviction from their land by one Kasifa Namaganda, a Kampala based businesswoman who is claiming ownership of Plot 206.
The contested 60 acre piece of land stretches from Makenke cell to Rwobuyenje village, in Kakiika division. Also facing eviction is the government owned Kakiika Technical Institute.
Mbarara RDC Capt. Martha Asiimwe touring the land causing trouble in Mbarara
Information from the Lands Commission indicates that Namaganda bought the contested land from Salim Kigozi, the LC 1 vice chairperson of Makenke cell in 2003. Namaganda says now she intends to sell it to controversial Libyan based tycoon Habib Kagimu to develop it.
Captain Justus Mwesigwa one of the affected residents accused the Local Council officials in the area, especially Kigozi of conniving with tycoons to grab people’s land.
Esther Tabu one of the old occupants said she assayed to secure a land title for her late husband ‘s piece of land in 2003 but her surprise was that the same land had a procured land title in the names of Kasifa Namaganda.
Esther said despite of a caveat to cancel Namaganda’s land title, court advised Kasfa to issue fresh eviction notices to the tenants in her land.
The piece of land in contention in Kakiika
RDC Martha Asiimwe told Chimpreports that their intervention follows a directive from the President to establish circumstances under which Kasfa obtained a land title for the piece of land that doesn’t belong to her.
Asiimwe said they have also been tasked to see that Kasfa doesn’t displace such a huge number of people from their land and to find a lasting solution to the increasing land grabbing cases in Mbarara district.
She appealed the LCs to follow the law when endorsing land titles to avoid encumbrances and that they will approach the matter on the legal point of view to so that no more collisions, forgery and greed of land in Mbarara.