Mukono bishop appeals to govt over land grabbers

Mukono Diocese Bishop Kitto Kagodo has asked the government to intervene in the rising cases of land grabbing that he says have brought several church development programmes to a halt.

Bishop Kagodo revealed that his diocese has lost more than 200 acres at Nakanyonyi in Nabaale Sub-county; over 100 acres at Kisowera in Nama Sub-county, seven acres at Kiwumu in Kyampisi Sub-county, while there are similar cases at Nakifuma.

“We request the government to take keen interest in this kind of crime because it greatly affects our plans and threatens the church’s existence,” he said on Monday.

Speaking at Lords Meade Vocational College (LMVC) in Buikwe District after passing out over 200 students who completed training in vocational studies, the bishop said more than five land-related cases have been reported to police.

He regretted that perpetrators of the act are always armed with machetes, arrows and bows, with which they threaten and harm the bonafide occupants of the land.

The prelate also encouraged Christians to always utilise their respective pieces of land, saying whenever land is left under bush for long, it tends to attract encroachers.

“As a diocese, we come up with projects such as coffee and banana farming as well as beekeeping enterprises to keep our land in the various locations occupied,” he said.

Bishop Kagodo commended the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level school for integrating vocational training in its academic programme, revealing that if this approach is replicated all over, it could help the country overcome the unemployment burden.

“Each day, graduates come to us for solutions yet those with vocational skills can easily employ themselves,” he said, while challenging Church ministers to learn vocational skills.

Mr Patrick Mutabwire, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, who is also chairman Board of Directors of the school, said from vocational courses offered, a student can easily upgrade and earn a degree.

The graduates were taught catering and hotel management, tailoring and garment cutting, bricklaying and concrete practice, carpentry and joinery, computer studies, plumbing, electrical installation, welding and metal fabrication, motor vehicle mechanics and hairdressing.

They were examined by the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), whose certificates, he said, are globally recognised and can be a basis for further academic training.

Jane Frances Balaba, a Senior Four student, who graduated with a certificate in catering, said she uses the knowledge and skills gained to bake cakes from which she earns some money in her holidays.