Land wrangles top agenda as Museveni visits Kayunga 

President Museveni last week began his re-election campaign in central region and is  today expected  to comb  the greater Mukono districts of Mukono, Kayunga, Buikwe and Buvuma.

The President, according to organisers, will first commission the newly renovated and expanded Kayunga General Hospital in Kayunga before meeting National Resistance Movement (NRM)  party leaders and flag bearers from the four districts in Mukono Town. 
Already, government has begun the process of elevating the   300-bed general hospital  to regional referral. 

The district council too  recently passed a resolution okaying the takeover of the hospital by the central government.
However, as the presidential campaigns in Kayunga intensify, there are a number of unfulfilled pledges and other challenges that government needs to address.

Mr Tom Sserwanga, the district chairperson, says the President promised to tarmac the Kayunga-Galilaaya Road in 2011 but the pledge is yet to be fulfilled.
“This is an important road and if  tarmacked, it will boost trade with northern Uganda districts and neighbouring Nakasongola ,” Mr Sserwanga says.

According to  Mr George Kumama,  the Bbaale County Member of Parliament, the design for the 85km road was completed four years ago but government says it is yet to secure funds for the project. 
Plans by the Obote II government to tarmac the Kayunga-Galilaaya Road  were in advanced stages at the time the government was toppled in a coup in 1985.

Mr Kumama also adds that Mr Museveni has not fulfilled his pledge of  a ferry that would connect Kayunga to northern Uganda across Lake Kyoga.
The absence of a ferry, Mr Kumana says,  has made it difficult for people in the district and those neighbouring the lake to conduct trade.
Mr Kumama, who is seeking a second term, says the ferry will ease transportation  of goods and people.

 
Health services
Ms Gladys Nakankya, an opinion leader and the district NRM treasurer,  says although  Kayunga General hospital has  been renovated and expanded, it is not fully stocked with drugs and  equipment.
Mr Fred Mpiima, the Kayonza Sub-county chairperson,  says, land wrangles and acts of land grabbing which have resulted into loss of lives are some of the biggest challenges the area is facing. 

“Although President Museveni tried to resolve the land wrangles in 2013, his efforts did not yield any fruit.  The rich or those connected to the power are still evicting poor tenants from their ancestral land,” Mr Mpiima says.

In 2013, President Museveni visited Kayunga District twice in a period of one month in an attempt to get a permanent solution to land wrangles in the area.  He later entrusted the then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, with the task of resolving the issue.

Gen Kayihura pitched camp in the area for almost a month but still he also failed to find a lasting solution to the problem.
Ms Sarah Nalumu, another elder in the district, says the continued political wrangles are another challenge.

Ms Nalumu cites the wrangle between Mr Moses Karangwa, the district NRM chairperson and Ms Idah Nantaba,  the district woman MP.
Ms Nantaba has for long been at loggerheads with Mr Karangwa, whom he accuses of backing land grabbers in the district, an allegation the latter  denies.

“The wrangles have created two camps in the district; one led by Ms Nantaba and another by Mr Karangwa. This has led to disunity among residents and affected the development of the area,” Ms Nalumu says.

In 2016, residents in Kitimbwa Sub-county, Kayunga District   threatened to beat up Ms  Nantaba, accusing her of interfering in land matters in the area.

The residents claimed that the former Lands state minister, Ms  Persis Namuganza, was the right person to save them from an impending eviction.
Mr Kizza Mutwalibu,  a resident, said the bickering among residents is affecting the NRM support in the district as members from each camp don’t see eye to eye.

However, despite the challenges the government has fulfilled some of its pledges like the renovation of the Mukono-Bukolooto-Njeru Road, which was completed last year and the  construction of the Isimba Bridge is almost complete. 

Mr Lawrence Pario, the  head of bridges and structures at Uganda National Roads Authority, recently  said  the testing of the bridge  will be conducted this week. 
 
In addition, the President’s pledge of giving freehold titles to at least 900 tenants in the sub-counties of Kitimbwa and Kayonza is being worked on, with the Ministry of Lands officials saying the beneficiaries will get them early next year.

Also, the President’s 2011 campaign pledge of constructing a road to connect Kayunga and Nakasongola District across River Ssezibwa is being worked on and is expected to be complete next year. 

Background
Kayunga is one of the places in central Uganda with fertile soils. It borders Lake Kyoga to the north and some areas were still heavily forested until recently. 

But the potential for land-related violence in the area is high, just as it is in many other places. For over a decade now, the district has been the scene of intense land wrangles.

 In 2009, a landlord was burnt to death by people who accused him of attempting to displace them from their land. Amidst the chaos, police deployed there to contain the violence. But it did not abate.
In 2012 , at least 20 landlords said they were fleeing Kayunga after tenants threatened to attack them.

This came after a landlord in Busaabira and Kyamugongo villages, Mr Paul Mutabaazi, effected a court order and demolished houses of nine tenants with the help of police officers, rendering them homeless. The angered tenants accordingly ranked Mr Mutabaazi “number one” on their “wanted list”.

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