Iganga to evict Busoga Kingdom

Iganga
The long-standing land wrangles between Busoga Kingdom and Iganga District administration have intensified, with the latter voting to evict the cultural institution from its land.
A district council session chaired by Speaker Willy Magala on Tuesday resolved to evict the institution from land near the district headquarters.

The move comes in the wake of a letter from the Busoga Prime Minister, Mr Wilson Muwereza, warning the council against sale of plots on a 10-acre piece of land near the district headquarters.

The land is used by the kingdom as headquarters for the chief of Kigulu, Mr Patrick Izimba Gologolo.

The motion of eviction was tabled by Makuutu Sub-county councillor, Mr Ben Kisame, who wondered why it was taking the district long to evict the kingdom from the land for which it possessed a title.

The kingdom, which also claims to have a title for the land, has threatened to institute legal proceedings against district officials involved in what it called the illegal sale of its land.

Busoga has since September 2008 been without a king after the 11 royal chiefs failed to agree on who to be Kyabazinga.

Trespass claim
Mr Gologolo told Daily Monitor that the district officials’ actions tantamount to criminal trespass and will be challenged in court.

Mr Muwereza said in a recent letter addressed to the LC V chairman Asuman Kyafu that the land is one of the properties that were returned to the Kyabazingaship in 1993 when traditional institutions were restored by the government.