Tayebwa dismisses land grabbing claims after meeting accuser

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa has dismissed social media allegations that he illegally grabbed  a plot of land belonging to a one Esther Lubunde in Abayita Ababiri-Entebbe Municipality, Wakiso District.

Mr Tayebwa was responding to the allegation that went viral in a social media video.

During a meeting with Ms Lubunde at Parliament on April 17, Mr Tayebwa noted that his investigations into the allegations revealed that the lady in the social media video was hoodwinked by her tormentors,  making her believe that the deputy speaker was behind the forceful grabbing of her land and subsequent arrest of her husband, Mr Edward Lubunnde.

He added that Ms Lubunde was easily tricked by the ‘conmen’ who acquired a title on the same land in the name of Culton Tayebwa, who is said to be a minor at the moment.

“When I saw that video I was shocked because I have never owned land around Entebbe. So, I decided to put the same video on my social media handles and I want to appreciate the public who helped me to get in touch with her,” Mr Tayebwa said.

“We have realized that when she had her [land] matter and found the title in the name of an infant called Tayebwa, she knew that was my son and out of desperation she decided to go out and plead. We also established that it is true her husband is in prison for failing to pay a court fine of over Shs40m in the same land case,” he added.

In the viral video that was posted on X (formerly Twitter) early this week, Ms Lubunde explained that Mr Tayebwa through his agents identified as Patrick Nziza and Allan Nkubiito illegally grabbed her land, arrested her husband and compromised all avenues of justice in her case.

Ms Lubunde who was accompanied by her father, Rev Semei Sebina and their lawyers acknowledge being hoodwinked by the alleged encroachers on their land, leading to unfounded conclusion, where they implicated the deputy speaker to be behind all the injustices meted out on them for the last three years.

“We have tried to find justice almost in all government offices in vain.  However, one of the encroachers known as Patrick Nziza, told us to give up because we cannot win a case against the deputy speaker, Thomas Tayebwa,” Ms Lubunde said.

“Unfortunately, we also found out that the title of these encroachers was acquired in the name of Culton Tayebwa, making it easy to believe the allegations. But I am very sorry and humbly request the deputy speaker to forgive me for spreading false information,” she added.

Mr Tayebwa pledged to follow up on the matter to ensure justice to the affected persons and cautioned social media users against sharing unsubstantiated allegations that can tarnish peoples’ reputations.

“We have followed until we got the current owner of the plot of land and we found that indeed, he is also a Tayebwa. They have written a complaint about the whole process and I have promised to follow it up with the responsible offices,” he said.