Government stops eviction of Bobi Wine

Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi

Parliament- Government has asked the landlord not to proceed with sale of land in Kamwokya where Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, and 400 others are facing possible eviction after a foreign investor bought the land.

The Internal Security Organisation (ISO) Director General, Col Kaka Bagyenda, told Daily Monitor yesterday that it is not acceptable for someone to evict masses of people in a way that is not clear.

“People should not be evicted. That is not acceptable especially when it is fraudulent like that. We shall work as government to protect the many people who stay on this land,” Col Kaka said.

In March this year, after a meeting with the landlord Mr David Ssenfuka, the ISO boss intervened in the saga saying the matter had become political where some MPs were peddling threats to the land owners without following the law.

Sources that attended the meeting in March told Daily Monitor at the weekend that government had asked Mr Ssenfuka to halt the intended sale of the land until after 2021 elections because the controversy could swing a sympathy vote in favour of Bobi Wine who early this pronounced his intention to stand for president.

“They first told David to leave this matter till after 2021 but he refused. Now government has started calling him a fraud,” the source said.
Col Kaka denied the allegation that government was only intervening for fear of political backlash. He said government is fighting for the common people.

“It is true I met this man (Mr Ssenfuka) but we later came to learn that this is another way some mafias are trying to fleece money from the government. We even don’t know whether Mr Ssenfuka owns that land and if he must evict people, he should first compensate them,” Col Kaka said.
The land in question sits on 26 acres shared among three zones, Old Kira Road zone, Kisenyi zone and Mulimira zone which partly fall in Nakawa Division and Kampala Central Division.

On August 12, Mr Ssenfuka agreed to sell the land to a Gabonese businessman, Mr Ulrich Anass Bongo Ngoyi, at Dirhams 55.2m (about Shs55b) with the first instalment of Dirhams 27.6m (about Shs27.5b) to be paid by cheque.
However, Mr Ssenfuka said the cheque was rejected when he presented it to the bank because the purchaser had blocked the cheque pending conclusion of the ongoing dispute on the land.

Bobi Wine, one of the claimants on the land, had sued Mr Ssenfuka and secured a court order halting the sale until the litigation had been concluded.

“This land is mine and I bought it in 2013. If government wants to save this land, they should come in and pay for it on behalf of the people. I am a businessman, since this transaction was stopped, I am incurring many losses,” Mr Ssenfuka said.
Mr Mpimbaza Hashaka, the former Nakawa deputy RDC, who is said to have mediated the dispute when Ssenfuka was purchasing it, advised government to consider the many people who will be dispossessed in case of an eviction.

By last evening, Bobi Wine still maintained his position that the intended eviction is illegal
“It is unfortunate that this has become a political matter to persecute me but this is at the expense of the many people on this land. Where can they go and yet they have all their lives on this land?” Bobi Wine said.
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