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Kikuube, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Amlan Tumusiime, the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner has petitioned Sam Mayanja, the State Minister for Lands, about the issuance of fraudulently acquired land titles.
In his petition dated October 24, 2022, the RDC contends that the current situation of land eviction threats in the district is alarming, following the issuance of fraudulently acquired titles to land grabbers and speculators in the area.
Tumusiime has cited a title in Musaijamukulu village, where more than 8,000 residents in the three villages of Musaijamukuru A, Musaijamukuru B, and Kibingo in Buhimba sub-county are living in fear.
The title is in the name of Stephen Aseera, the Buhaguzi East Member of Parliament in Kikuube together with two others including Charles Ochaki Nyabongo and Job Muhumuza.
The three processed and acquired a joint title for 127 hectares of land. It is alleged that the title was processed in November 2020.
Tumusiime wants the minister to immediately intervene and save the local people from being evicted from their land by canceling the titles.
Tumusiime’s petition comes barely a day after more than 1,000 residents in Kaseeta parish, Kikuube district petitioned Judith Nabakoba, the Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development to intervene and revoke three different land titles that have been fraudulently acquired.
The affected residents are from the villages of Ndongo, Kisoba, Kahara, Nyanseke, Nyakabaale, and Hohwa in Kaseeta parish, Kabwoya lower sub-county. The land in question measures 501 hectares.
The families are feuding with six people who have since processed and acquired titles for the contested land, which the affected families have occupied since the 1930s.
Some of the titles seen by Uganda Radio Network are registered in the names of Amos Munsiime Kurotaro and Gideon Tumwebaze, Sarah Mbabazi and Benon Tulinawe, and Matayo Butere and Aidah Bandonda. The titles were processed and acquired in March 2021.
In their petition dated October 12, 2022, signed by more than 1,000 people, the aggrieved residents want the minister to intervene and have the titles canceled.
They also want the minister to investigate the circumstances under which the six acquired titles in the area yet they are not residents in the area.
According to the residents, they have settled on the piece of land since 1910 to date without any conflict, wondering how the tycoons came to acquire titles in the area without the consent of area residents and leaders. Districts in the Bunyoro sub-region have witnessed a series of land conflicts since the discovery of oil and gas that has seen land grabbers and speculators invade the area putting several families on tension.
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