City businessman Medard Kiconco after he recorded a statement in Kampala on Wednesday (PML Daily PHOTO)
KAMPALA – Businessman Medard Kiconco who is accused of violently evicting hundreds of families and destroying property worth millions of Shillings in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District has taken responsibility said for last week’s biplent evictions.
Mr Kiconco on Thursday appeared before investigators at the Commission of Inquiry into land matters and recorded a statement in response to summons issued against him in regard to complaints.
“I have made a statement and anytime they call me, I will come back,” Mr Kiconco told journalists adding that the eviction was execution of a court process by court bailiffs who were ordered to ensure vacant possession of the land.
On Wednesday, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire said Mr Kiconco has been summoned to appear before the commission after President Museveni halted any further evictions and destruction of property during an impromptu fact-finding tour of the area.
He was accused of defying a directive by the land inquiry which halted implementation of an order from the High Court execution division dated August 23.
Describing himself as a businessman dealing in construction, Mr Kiconco yesterday said that his land is private mailo on Block 206 Plot 671 measuring 3.89 hectares (about 9.6acres) in Sekanyonyi Villages in Kawempe Division, Kampala and not in Lusanja, Kasangati Town Council.
“There was no eviction in Lusanja because it is not my land. My land is at the border of Wakiso and Kampala districts. I am responsible for eviction out of a court process after a judgement was made,” said Mr
Kiconco denying any notice or advice from the land inquiry.
Armed with court documents and a land title, Mr Kiconco, without revealing the number, said that he compensated more than a hundred people between 2016 and 2017 who admitted that they were erroneously
on the land.
He challenged the complainants to present any purchase agreement to prove their claim saying that the accusations against him are instigated by politicians and government officials who misled the president.
According to the title copy, Mr Kiconco acquired the disputed land in April 2016 from Paul Katabazi Bitarabeho who was administrator and later owner of the same land before transfer.
He revealed that the land in question neighbours leasehold land measuring 30.6 hectares owned by the Bitarabeho family in Lusanja.
Mr Kiconco declined to comment on President Museveni’s orders also denied any links to the first family and officials of Operation Wealth Creation headed by Gen. Salim Saleh but insisted that he will follow the due process of the law.
Residents reported to President Museveni that Mr Kiconco used the Police and armed gang violently evicted them from the land where they have lived for decades and destroyed their household property in the wee hours and injured others.
Their leader, Fred Kanyike said that a total of 350 homes were demolished and 240 others awaits the same and that the land has since been fenced off without any notice.
Sitting at the National Records and Archives Centre in Kampala, the Commission is inquiring into the law, processes and procedures in land acquisition, land administration, and management in the country.
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