Police boss property destroyed in family dispute
The former Mbarara District officer in charge of CIID, Mr Ian Kakuru, shows his destroyed banana plantation on the disputed land in Rubare Town Council, Ntungamo District. PHOTO BY COLLEB MUGUME
NTUNGAMO- Police in Ntungamo District are investigating a case where five acres of banana plantation belonging to a police chief were destroyed in an apparent family dispute over land.
The plantation belonged to Mr Ian Kakuru, a former officer in charge of the Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (CIID) at Mbarara Police Station.
The plantation in Rwabaramira, Omungyenyi in Rubare Town Council, Ntungamo District was cut down last week by unknown people.
Mr Kakuru said it was destroyed by people led by his uncle, Mr Andrew Kangaho, who works with Posta Uganda.
A few hours before the destruction on April 24, Mr Kakuru said he received transfer orders from Rwizi Regional Police Commander, Mr Hilary Kulayige, to immediately vacate his office and report to his new duty station in East Kyoga Region as the legal officer.
He was ordered to immediately hand over to his deputy Mr Justus Mbaramye.
Mr Kakuru said Mr Kulayige told him the instructions came from Mr Moses Balimwoyo, the director of human resource management of the Uganda Police.
Mr Kakuru said he suspected his uncles: Mr Andrew Kangaho and Maj Ian Kangaho of the Special Forces Command (SFC) and his aunt, Ms Jolly Sabune, the head of Cotton Development Authority, to have engineered his abrupt transfer because of the long running family land wrangle he has had with them.
He said the motive could be to keep him far away to frustrate his efforts to pursue the land case.
However, Mr Kulayige said he did not know whether Mr Kakuru’s transfer was influenced by his relatives.
“I don’t know if his transfer is a result of a complaint. I know they have been having family land wrangles which are being handled by Ntungamo police, but I am not sure if his transfer is associated with those conflicts. Me, I take it as a normal transfer,” Mr Kulayige said on Tuesday.
Kakuru had been at Mbarara Police Station for a year.
On Monday he reported the case of malicious damage to Ntungamo Police Station.
“We are carrying out investigations and soon we shall present results to relevant offices we work with in relation to crime. They will guide us on the next step to take. We have summoned the suspects but they are yet to come,” Mr Bosco Gume, the CIID officer at Ntungamo Police Station, said.
The family has been locked in a land conflict since March 2014 when Mr Kakuru’s grandfather, Arthur James Kangaho died. The deceased was also the father to Andrew Kangaho.
Arthur Kangahho was a brother of Edward Kataaha, father of First Lady Janet Museveni.
Mr Kakuru’s father, Maj Sheff Makosa (Arthur Kangaho’s son) died in 1991. Maj Makosa left Mr Kakuru, who was then aged 12, and his four siblings, one of whom has since died, under the care of their grandfather Arthur Kangaho.
Mr Gume confirmed the family has been in a land conflict and said the answers to the destruction of the plantation lie among the members.
“I am the grandchild of late Arthur Kangaho who had six children, two have since died. But my uncles: Maj Ian Kangaho and Andrew Kangaho are threatening to kill me, Moses Kangaho (another son of Arthur Kangaho) and others because they want to take the whole land of our grandfather,” Mr Kakuru said.
“Our grandfather died when he had not made a will but he left the property in the hands of the family. These uncles processed land titles in their names without our consent. They want to deny us share of the land. On Friday they came here and cut the banana plantation which I had planted,” Mr Kakuru said.
He said Maj Ian Kangaho moves with a pistol and has been threatening them.
Mr Kakuru appealed to Ms Janet Museveni, whom he said paid for his studies, President Museveni and Rushenyi MP Mwesigwa Rukutana to help the family resolve the matter.
Mr Moses Kangaho said: “Ian Kangaho and Andrew Kangaho are my brothers. They came here on Friday and destroyed the banana we had planted, threatening us with guns. I informed the Resident District Commissioner and police. We request elders to come and show us where we are supposed to go because this is our home. There is nowhere else we can go.”
Threatening violence
Mr Kakuru says in March, he was invited to Mutungo in Kampala for a family meeting which was attended by Ms Sabune; Maj Ian Kangahho and his wife Judith; Alice Kangaho, wife of Andrew Kangaho; Rose Kakiiza, a sister of Ms Sabune; Moses Kagondoki and John Kambaho.
He said the meeting was chaired by Mr Elly Rwakakoko, a family friend and former commissioner general of the Uganda Revenue Authority.
No consensus was reached despite Mr Rwakakoko’s appeal to them to resolve the matter amicably.
After the meeting, Mr Kakuru reported to Ntungamo Police Station a case of threatening violence against his uncles, which was entered as SD REF 31/03/04/2015).
The case also included a complaint about obtaining registration of land titles by fraudulent means and meddling in the estate of the deceased.
When Sunday Monitor contacted Maj Kangaho on Wednesday on his personal mobile number 0772605929, he denied he was the one we were speaking to.
Efforts to get a comment from Ms Jolly Sabune were futile as her telephone contact was off air.
When he was contacted, Mr Andrew Kangaho admitted he destroyed the banana plantation.
“I am entitled to protect my family belongings. Yes, I brought down the banana plantation because it was illegally put there without our consent. I am not doing anything outside the law. That banana plantation was put there by Ian Kakuru,” Mr Andrew Kangaho said.
“After our complaint to the police, we physically took them there to show them what has been done illegally. It is our business on how to retain our family estate, an outsider cannot come and start mismanaging our family estate. If Kakuru is to share anything, he has to go through the family hierarchy. Kakuru is a grandchild, he is not a son of Kangaho. How does a grandson claim the land where there are sons of Kangaho,” Mr Andrew Kangaho added.
Mr Kakuru placed a caveat on the disputed land to block the registration of any person as a proprietor until all the beneficiaries consent in writing. The land comprises one acre in Rubare Town Council, about 50 hectares on Mirama hill and 40 hectares in Rwabaramira Omungyenyi.
Mr Alex Mbahwerize, the local council chairman for Rwabaramira village, said: “I lived with the late Arthur since I was 13 years old. I am now 50 years old. The matter in this family is that these two children (Ian Kangaho and Andrew Kangaho) want to neglect (omit) other beneficiaries on sharing the part of the property of late Arthur. I came and asked them: ‘if you know that these children don’t have any share here, where do you want them to go?’ Andrew didn’t answer anything.”
