Museveni blames land killings on Britain

President Museveni pays his last respects after laying a wreath on the late Samuel Majyambere’s grave in Kitebere-Makulubita village, Luweero District on Thursday. Majyambere was killed over a land dispute recently.PPU PHOTO

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“I recently set up a committee headed by Luweero LC5 chairman Hajj [Abdul] Nadduli to look into some of these problems and report back with a detailed plan on how we shall handle them. We have been briefed by police that the suspect has been arrested but we still wonder why one would opt to kill a man like Majyambere because of a land dispute,” Museveni

Luweero. President Museveni has castigated the British colonial masters for messing up the local land ownership system in Buganda which has become a cause of persistent murders and suffering in the region.
“Our former colonial masters, Britain are the source of this land problem in Buganda region, including some few in areas like Ankole and other parts of the country. We fought hard to defeat a selfish group to have the new land laws in place but still our people are having problems because of this land system,” Mr Museveni told mourners at Kitebele village on Wednesday.

He was speaking to residents of Mawala-Kitebere village, Kanyanda Parish in Makulubita Sub-county in Luweero District on Thursday after laying a wreath on the grave of the late Samuel Babumba Majyambere who was recently killed over a land dispute.
Majyambere provided shelter to National Resistance Army rebels during the Bush War.
The President praised the fallen veteran for both material support and hard work when he offered more than 50 bicycles to the NRA guerillas at the first camp at his home in Kitebele in 1981.
Mr Museveni appealed to all stakeholders to find a solution to the land disputes.

“People continue to disregard the land laws yet we have RDCs and other government officials supposed to monitor these events. This must come to an end,” Mr Museveni added.
He urged Ugandans to use the law to solve land wrangles and avoid taking the law into their hands.
“We don’t want this kind of indiscipline. MPs should be hard on these people while revising the laws on murder and rape so that they are dealt with and stopped. Killing somebody because of land issues is not accepted. You people are supposed to solve it using the law. I have come here as a sign of respect to the late Majyambere who did something for the country,” Mr Museveni said.

While responding to an earlier call by the Rev Abel Kigozi of Kalasa Church of Uganda who said more than three people have been murdered in Makulubita within three months over similar disputes without arrest of the killers, the President was disturbed that police and courts take long to act.
“My prayer is that these Members of Parliament you recently elected help me in amending and streamlining the current laws to have a better Uganda. The army has ways of responding to issues regarding murder. We clear these issues quickly. You cannot kill and ask for bail in the army..,” Museveni said.
The suspect told police after arrest that he killed Majyambere because he had provoked him and claimed that he was known to the President and Gen Salim Saleh.