Prisons accused of grabbing land

Budaka. Local leaders in Budaka District have accused Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) of grabbing district land amounting to more than 77 acres in Budaka Town Council.
According to an October 17 letter signed by the LC5 chairperson, Mr Sam Muloni, addressed to President Museveni, the Uganda Prisons authorities are accused of using fraudulent means to grab the said land.
“It was to my shock and surprise when I got to learn that prisons officers [not surveyors] had fraudulently planted land marks using prisoners in total disregard of legal procedures. Neither the neighbours, area land committee, district land board nor district leaders were involved in their fraudulent transactions,” Mr Muloni claimed in the letter .
The land in question hosts Budaka Town Council offices, the Judiciary, National Water and Sewerage Cooperation, a market and Bugwere Cultural Institution offices.
Last month, the prison officers accompanied by prisoners planted land marks without surveyors.
This angered the residents, who mobilised themselves and attacked them. Police intervened and the exercise was halted.
Mr Muloni said the government should intervene and stop the Uganda Prisons, saying such a decision is humiliating and embarrassing and likely to cause insecurity.
He added: “I therefore pray government prevails over prisons authorities to stop this level of anarchy and impunity. They should also stop cultivating any part of the land outside the fenced land, which marks the prisons boundary.”
He further explained that the affected persons have vowed to vehemently reject the plan of being evicted from their land.
“This is deliberate aggression against the district local government and people of Budaka,” he said.