KYANKWANZI —Lands minister Judith Nabakooba has intervened in Kyankwanzi land conflicts following increasing disputes which she says have greatly affected the progress of the Parish Development Model cash (PDM) given to locals for poverty alleviation.
Most of the land in contention is public land that was formerly leased but the duration of these leasehold titles expired. In a different case, some leased land lies idle and owners are not known.
“We (the ministry of lands) is going forge ways of guiding the districts on how they should handle expired leases but also the land whose leases are still running but the land is not in possession,” Nabakooba said.
In instances where leases expire, former landowners are still using the land, causing mayhem to sitting bibanja holders. Some have lost their property and are worried about how they are going to survive with their families.
“We have discovered that the Kyankwanzi cattle corridor is one of the most affected in PDM and land matters. You find one person with vast chunks of land lying idle.”
Mr Frank Bilalo, a resident of Kanyogoga, said some PDM program beneficiaries cannot return the money because they are being evicted and all their investments vanished in land conflicts.
“My home was set on fire and all the money I had kept in the house was burnt,” he said, seeking the President’s assistance.
Locals have also disputed a 7-square-mile land on ranch 16 which was allocated to Makerere University by President Museveni in 1989 to establish demonstration and experimental modern facilities for agricultural-related training.
The land currently has 78 squatters who claim ownership and are not willing to leave it for the said planned university developments yet it is registered under Makerere.
Banda sub-county chairperson, Peter Kabatangare, said all the land is occupied and there is no free space to allow any developments.
“We need to look through that issue and see what we are going to do with the squatters because they have no other land to locate to,” he asked the minister.
Nabakooba promised to look at the details of the land and establish how people settled on that land before making a decision.
She directed the deputy Resident District Commissioner Perusi Kabale to work with security agencies to make investigations into all the land matters in Kyankwanzi and file a detailed report to her in a month’s time.
Most conflicts are caused by ex-servicemen in the National Resistance Army (NRA) that brought President Museveni to power, who are reportedly tormenting locals in six villages in Byerima Sub-Country, with threats of eviction.
The villages are; Kiryamusunku A and B, Ttendero A and B, Kikuya, and Kijuubya villages.
Mr Wilberforce Wankangala, a resident of Kiryamusunku village, said ex-servicemen had a lease on five square miles which later expired but they are still claiming ownership without producing documents of ownership.
“The conflicts started in the early 2000s and two people were shot dead, others were brutally beaten and they are now lame. But when we ask them to present their documents, they do not have them,” he lamented, adding that the ex-servicemen were even demanding money from squatters.
Mr Alfred Kitui said he inherited the 20 acres on this land from his grandparents in the 1970s but was surprised to receive strangers claiming ownership of their land. He identified one of the servicemen as Wanjala Nsereko.
Ms Christine Bukenya Ssendawula, the Kyankwanzi District Woman MP, asked the minister to include her area among the benefitting districts of the Land Fund.
She said most of the land with conflicts has squatters who cannot afford to secure land titles from their landlords.
“We have been seeing you giving out titles in other parts of the country. Even here in our neighboring district of Kakumiro, they have titles. We pray Kyankwanzi will be considered in the next phase,” Ms Bukenya said.
PDM progress
Kyankwanzi District received Shs22 billion PDM cash in the past two phases, with Shs11 billion disbursed on the Sacco accounts in the Financial Years, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.
However, a section of leaders had reportedly extorted Shs49.8 million from this money which was meant for locals. The deputy RDC working with security agencies and political leaders, was able to identify the culprits, and this money was recovered and is currently kept by the District Police Commander.
Mr Jude Mark Bukenya, the Chief Administrative Officer, said the money will be remitted back to the intended beneficiaries’ account on January 9, 2025 in the presence of the Deputy National Coordinator PDM, Ms Jovrine Kyomukama Kaliisa.
