Mbarara City, district row over property ownership deepens
Mbarara District Local Government headquarters in Mbarara City is one of the contested properties. PHOTO / RAJAB MUKOMBOZI.
What you need to know:
- The disagreement started in 2020 when Mbarara Municipality was elevated to a city status and Mbarara District was asked to shift its headquarters in Kamukuzi to Bwizibwera in Kashari South Constituency.
The dispute over property ownership between Mbarara District Local Government and Mbarara City, has deepened, with each entity claiming all government property within Mbarara City.
The disagreement started in 2020 when Mbarara Municipality was elevated to a city status and Mbarara District was asked to shift its headquarters in Kamukuzi to Bwizibwera in Kashari South Constituency.
Mbarara City Council on Tuesday, approved a move by the executive to give the Judiciary land for the construction of a Court of Appeal branch in Ankole sub-region, which the district council had earlier approved.
“We have approved the motion to give the Judiciary land in Kakiika, Mbarara City North Division to build a Court of Appeal, but I understand the district has also given this institution land for the same purpose. We want to know who owns land here; is it Mbarara District or Mbarara City?” Mr Muhammad Byansi, a councillor representing Nyamityobora Ward A and B at the city council, asked during a council meeting on Tuesday.
Warning
Mbarara City speaker Bonny Tashobya Karutsya said Mbarara District Local Government should back off the land in the city since it does not own land there.
“This familiarity has to stop or else, we will be forced to throw them out of the offices they are occupying in Kamukuzi. Mbarara City became independent effective July 1, 2020. We are advising them to stop playing on Mbarara City property,” Mr Tashobya said.
He added: “They should stop carrying out any activity or transaction on our land. Let them give out land at Bwizibwera (district headquarters) and that owned by its sub-counties.”
The Mbarara City Council secretary for finance, Mr Ronald Taremwa, asked the council to petition the Attorney General, the ministries of Local Government and that of Lands on the matter.
“Mr Speaker, even after the Attorney General gave an opinion that Mbarara District Local Government should not give out any land, they are continuing to do so. I move that we petition the Attorney General, the ministries of Local Government and that of Lands to stop these land allocations by Mbarara District Local Government,” Mr Taremwa proposed.
To that effect, the city councillors unanimously passed a resolution to petition the ministries responsible to have matters regarding property and land ownership between the two entities settled amicably.
Mbarara District chairperson Didas Tabaro, in an interview with Daily Monitor, said the city council resolution is laughable and made from uninformed views.
“They are just ignorant and it is unfortunate that they are expressing this ignorance in public. The owner of the land is that person in whose name the title is registered, according to Section 35 of the Land Act. There is nothing like automatic acquisition of land,” Mr Tabaro said.
He said shifting the headquarters of the district does not bar them from owning land within Mbarara City.
“What was elevated was a municipality to a city status, not the district. The property that the municipality owned is what became that of the city. Mbarara District Local Government is a corporate body and nothing stops it from owning property anywhere in the world,” Mr Tabaro explained.
