Three villages caught in Wakiso land wrangle

It was a moment of joy and jubilation for the bibanja holders from the villages of Busamba, Kanziro and Gayaza in Namayumba Sub-county, Wakiso District, after officials from the Lands ministry stopped the demarcation of a contested piece of land.

The officials, who were accompanied by a team from the Wakiso District Security Committee, said the Lands minister, Ms Judith Nabakooba, had ordered the exercise to immediately be halted, terming it illegal.

Ms Nabakooba, in her message, also indicated that investigations into the contested land are ongoing. 

The directive was issued during a meeting between the occupants of the land in question and members of the late Gabriel Lubajja family, who claim to be the title holders in Busamba Village on Tuesday.  

The meeting followed complaints from more 1,000 occupants of Busiro Block 53 Plot 15 of land measuring 1044.9 acres, who claimed that their occupation was being threatened by people who were demarcating the land and want to evict them.

In his statement read by Mr Moses Ssekitto, the acting principal registrar of the land titles in the Ministry of Lands, Ms Nabakooba instructed that no bibanja holder should be evicted.

“Since it is a family issue, it cannot be concluded today, the minister will meet the concerned parties, and review documents of land ownership before a decision can be taken. But the law allows you to stay on your land regardless of who is holding the land title. No one will be evicted,’’ Mr Ssekitto said amid cheers from hundreds of Bibanja holders.

On the allegations that the 60 acres of land had already been illegally sold, Mr Ssekitto said the matter would be investigated and that the land title would be cancelled if it was wrongly obtained.

 He tasked all those in possession of documents of the land to hand them over to the ministry to guide their investigations.

Surveying

Ms Richard Ssemitala, who claimed to be one of the grandsons of the late Lubajja and one of the administrators of the land, said they hired experts to survey the land so that it could equally be distributed among the existing eight families of Lubajja.

He said it was anticipated that after dividing the land, each family head would agree with the occupants to either buy the land or pay rent (Obusulu).

But Mr Mathias Mulumba Ssegantebuka, another grandchild and an acting administrator of the land in Busamba, said he would not allow the land to be divided again.

He suggested that some of the people advocating for the division of land should be subjected to a DNA test, but the suggestion was rejected by some family members. 

Mr Mulumba added that original land documents indicate that Lubajja was not the title holder, but was a trustee of the land. 

“Available documents indicated that Lubajja was appointed a trustee of the land in 1961,’’ he said.

Some family members, however, say he [Lugujja] was not buried on the same land.

Mr Mulumba noted that when Lugujja disappeared from home, the responsibility of taking care of the land was handed over to Edward Ssemitala Kinagomba in 1988. When Kinagomba passed away, the responsibility was given to Mr Deo Ssentamu, another grandson of Lubajja, who now lives in Canada.

In his absentia, Mr Mulumba said he was left to act as an administrator. He added that in 1995, the said land was divided among the eight families and an inventory to that effect is in court. 

Wakiso Resident District Commissioner Justine Mbabazi asked residents to remain calm as investigations into the matter continue.

She assured residents that no one would sell or buy the contested land until investigations are complete.

 Ms Mbabazi tasked the local council leadership to register all visitors, workers, and residents of each village to ensure criminals are easily traced. 

The RDC also announced that she would lead her team soon to Namayumba Sub-county to carry out countability checks on funds meant to facilitate government programmes such as, Emyooga and Parish Development Model.

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