MP blocks surveyors from accessing disputed land

The Mawogola South MP Gorreth Namugga has blocked surveyors from opening boundaries of at a disputed land in Kamuli Village, Miteete Sub County in Sembabule District.

 Monitor has learnt that two surveyors had Saturday morning been hired by Joseph Ssemakula, one of the claimants of the 350 acre-piece of land occupied by over 700 households.

Ssemakula claims he rightfully owns the land, but children of late Joseph Kafeero insist the former sold it to their father in 1984.

Ms Namugga tasked the surveyors to produce introduction letters and a letter from local leaders that okayed the surveying which they (surveyors) failed to avail.

The two surveyors were also panga-wielding which threatened lives of residents, according to Ms Namugga.

“I had to stop the exercise to first establish ownwership through the Lands ministry,” the lawmaker said.

 However, Miteete Sub County Chairperson Baker Byayi Ssenyonga warned the two warring parties against “evicting tenants who are the lawful occupants.”

According to Mr Ssenyonga, who is also a resident on the same land, they have not been paying nominal ground rent for over 20 years since they did not know the true owner of the land.

“We knew that it belonged to the late Joseph Kafeero and now another claimant is here and we are scared that our people might be affected,” Mr Ssenyonga said. 

Mr Fred Ssegawa, a son to the late Joseph Kafeero said the family possesses the original land title and a sales agreement which Mr Ssemakula purportedly signed.

“We went to the Masaka land office and placed a caveat on this land after realising that Ssemakula and his sons had started forging papers for our land,” he claimed.  

Kamuli Village secretary Mr John Bosco Lubega said the village committee knows Ssemakula as the landlord because he introduced himself to them in 2012. Additionally, he wondered why Kafeero’s family was coming up now.

Mr Paul Mukiibi, a son to Ssemakula who claims to be the administrator of his father’s estate told Monitor on Sunday that his father never sold the land to anybody.

“Even if the process of surveying the land is halted, we shall come back because we need to know where our land begins and stops so that we can redevelop it,” Mr Mukiibi said in a telephone interview.