Residents chase RDC, DAPCB officials from meeting over disputed land
Mr Hirome Sabbehe Mayanja, the chairperson of divestiture committee of DAPCB and the Buikwe Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jane Francis Kagayi walking away from the flopped meeting on March 18,2022. PHOTO/ DENIS SSEBWAMI (1)
What you need to know:
- A special probe conducted by the Auditor General, John Muwanga, in 2009 revealed that some properties of DAPCB had been illegally disposed of under the influence of senior government officials.
A meeting convened to defuse tension between residents of Kalagala Village, Kiyindi Town Council, Buikwe District and Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB) ended prematurely after the former kicked out the latter.
Armed with clubs, residents were incensed by DAPCB officials’ claims that the board is the rightful owner of the one square mile piece of land they are currently occupying.
DAPCB is an agency charged with the responsibility to manage all assets left behind by over 50,000 Asians who were in 1972 forced out of Uganda by the then president, Idi Amin in 1972.
A team led by Mr Hirome Sabbehe Mayanja, the chairperson of divestiture committee of DAPCB and the Buikwe Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jane Francis Kagayi said they were implementing the presidential directive to DAPCB to fast- track the recovery of thousands of property formerly under the management of the board and believed to have been fraudulently taken over by wealthy businessmen across the country.
Trouble ensued when officials produced the original land title contrary to what the residents had; forcing the latter to cause commotion at the Friday meeting.
The disputed land currently has over 200 sitting tenants.
“We do not have anywhere to go. We have been staying on this land since childhood. We even have our burial sites here,” Mr Samson Ssebunya , one of the angry residents said.
Mr Edward Mazinga, the deputy mayor Kiyindi Town Council urged the affected residents not to vacate the land in question.
“Please do not give up the fight. Land grabbers are using the cover of DAPCB to chase you away,” he noted.
Mr Haruna Bbosa, a councillor representing persons with disabilities at Kiyindi Town Council said the purported Asian only had a lease which expired and the land reverted to the owner, the late Yahaya Bina family.
"It's true in 1950s, there is an Indian who got a lease on that land, but his lease expired and Mr Yahaya Bino got back his land. It is him who later sold plots to the sitting tenants, “he stated.
Mr Mayanja said they had gone to the site to implement the presidential directive aimed at recovering all DAPCB land still occupied by illegal occupants.
“We have discovered that all the properties of the departed Asians are having encumbrances, so without a special enforcement team, nothing will be done,” he said.
He challenged the sitting tenants to provide proof of ownership instead of causing chaos.
“Why do they cause chaos if they know they are rightful occupants? It is very simple; let them present their documents,” he said.
Buikwe RDC, Ms Jane Francis Kagayi, said they will continue engaging residents until they amicably resolve the dispute.
“Land ownership is proved through documents. The Custodian Board has presented theirs and we also need to look at those from sitting tenants,” she said.
A special probe conducted by the Auditor General, John Muwanga, in 2009 revealed that some properties of DAPCB had been illegally disposed of under the influence of senior government officials.
By the time the audit was carried out, the AG discovered that out of the 8,965 Asian properties, 4,063 were repossessed, 1,676 were sold and 3,226 remained unsold.
