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Kabarole, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Tooro Kingdom and the Kabarole District administration have finally agreed on an amicable resolution over a land dispute.
This comes after an eight-hour meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala on Wednesday. In attendance was Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda who headed the government side which also had Local Government Minister Raphael Magyezi and State Minister for Culture, Peace Mutuuzo.
Kabarole District was represented by Richard Rwabuhinga and on the kingdom side, the delegation was led by the Kingdom Prime Minister, Bernard Tungakwo; Lands Minister, Polly Kateeba and Information Minister, Charles Mpagi.
Our reporter has established from a reliable source who attended the meeting, among other things, resolved that the construction of the district headquarters goes on as planned.
The meeting, which started at 10 am and ended after 6 pm, also resolved that government should come in to establish the bonafide owner of the land and if found it belongs to the kingdom, the district will have to regularize its occupancy.
Both parties also agreed to cease the exchange of negative words and Rwabuhinga promised to work with the council and ensure the resolution to ban the singing of the Tooro Kingdom anthem is rescinded.
Also, Kingdom officials agreed to rescind the curses against Kabarole district council leaders and Rwabuhinga.
Mpagi told our reporter that he was happy about the resolutions of the meeting.
Fort Portal municipality became autonomous after it was elevated to a tourism city in July last year. This meant that Kabarole district had to shift the district headquarters that are now in Kitumba ward Central division in Fort Portal to outside the city.
The district leadership chose Busoro Sub County to host the new district headquarters. However, this decision immediately sparked a dispute that has lasted for months. Tooro Kingdom Lands Minister Polly Kateeba has been saying that the land belongs to the kingdom and the district should first sign a Memorandum of Understanding – MoU with them before constructing its headquarters.
On the other hand, Kabarole district officials led by the LC V chairperson, Richard Rwabuhinga have been insisting that the land belongs to the district and not the kingdom.
According to Rwabuhinga, the district owns 12 acres of land including the one hosting Busoro sub-county headquarters. But Kateeba had always maintained that the kingdom owns over 49 acres of land in Busoro including the one being claimed by the district.
Kateeba has been telling the public on local radio stations that even though they don’t have a title, the land has eucalyptus trees and buildings that are being used by Busoro sub-county headquarters, which are known to be properties of the kingdom.
He explains that in 1966 when they were in the process of getting a title for the land in question, and for other pieces of land that are untitled, kingdoms were abolished and they had never restarted the process.
In a space of about two months now, several meetings have been held by kingdom officials including the ministers, County and Sub County Chiefs and clan leaders, all of whom maintained that the land belongs to the kingdom and Kabarole leaders should not use it.
At some point, County Chiefs met at the kingdom chambers in Mucwa Fort Portal and cursed Rwabuhinga and other district leaders, saying they taken a very bad decision of banning the singing of Tooro Kingdom anthem.
The dispute between the District and Kingdom came at a time when the government is in the final stages of returning the assets of Tooro Kingdom. The assets include land, county and sub-county headquarters that were forcefully taken over by the central government when the then-President Milton Obote abolished traditional institutions and made Uganda a republic.
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