Mukula’s wife cries over land grabbing accusations

Ms Gladys Mukula

What you need to know:

  • Contradiction. Earlier Ms Mukula, a business woman, told the Commission that she bought the contested land at Shs50m from Ms Betty Lumu, the daughter to former Obote I Health minister.
  • Earlier Ms Mukula, a business woman, told the Commission that she bought the contested land at Shs50m from Ms Betty Lumu, the daughter to former Obote I Health minister, Dr Lumu.
  • Ms Rosemary Nabukenya accused Dr Emmanuel Lumu of fraudulently transferring her land into his name. Dr Lumu would later sell it to Ms Mukula.

Kampala. The wife to the ruling NRM party vice chairman eastern region, Mr Mike Mukula, cried before the Commission of Inquiry yesterday as investigators pressed accusations of land grabbing against her.
Ms Gladys Mukula’s emotions erupted after Mr George Bagonza, who is one of the commissioners, reminded her to be humble during the cross examinations.

“You are standing too tall for a sick desperate old woman, you need to bend a little. There is life after all these earthily acquisitions. You will hit headlines in the book of life, because even the building you want to put up after you are put away, it will be standing on cursed ground and it could turn against you,” Mr Bagonza said.
Ms Mukula, 61, was appearing before the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led Commission of Inquiry where she is facing accusations of causing instability, threatening arrest and eviction of a 78-year-old woman from her plot in Kagugube Zone, Makerere area.

Ms Rosemary Nabukenya accused Dr Emmanuel Lumu of fraudulently transferring her land into his name. Dr Lumu would later sell it to Ms Mukula.
Last year, Ms Nabukenya told the Commission that the land was registered in the names of her mother, Maria Louisa Nnalongo Nanyonga, on April 15, 1961.

Mr Bagonza, who was supported by Commissioner Fred Ruhindi, urged Ms Mukula to handle this land issue with caution.
“I’m touched but how little do you want me to bend?” Ms Mukula asked Mr Bagonza.
Mr Bagonza pointed out two cases, one in Mbarara where President Museveni had resolved a 40-year-old land dispute and another case in Hoima where parties agreed to a solution.
In her response, Ms Mukula said amid tears; “This lady has given me a tough time on this land, I have not done much on that land. I’m ready to sit on a roundtable and see a way forward.”

Ms Mukula’s suggestion was welcomed by Justice Bamugemereire forcing her to put away the land laws she wanted to read to Ms Mukula.
“I do not think she wants to fight you but she was fighting for her interests that’s why she went to court. I think you can sit down with her and come up with an amicable solution. If a neutral settlement is found it has to be satisfactory to everybody,” she said.

Earlier Ms Mukula, a business woman, told the Commission that she bought the contested land at Shs50m from Ms Betty Lumu, the daughter to former Obote I Health minister, Dr Lumu. Ms Mukula denied threatening Ms Nabukenya.
She, however, said she did not have a purchase agreement but insisted that Dr Lumu’s daughter had signed the transfer forms.
Ms Mukula told the Commission that before she bought the land she was told the old woman was a squatter who would leave if she wanted her to leave.