More than 1,500 families from six villages in Kikuube district are facing forceful eviction from their ancestral land. The affected families are Ndongo, Kisoba, Kahara, Nyanseke, Nyakabaale, and Hohwa villages in Kaseeta parish in Kabwoya lower sub-county.
The land in question measures 501 hectares covering all six villages. The families are feuding with six tycoons who have since processed and acquired titles for contested land, which the affected families have occupied since the 1930s.
Some of the titles seen by Uganda Radio Network are registered in the names of Amos Munsiime Kurotaro and Gideon Tumwebaze, Sarah Mbabazi and Benon Tulinawe and Matayo Butere, and Aidah Bandonda.
The titles were processed and acquired in March 2021. Elias Bin Kalili, the LC I chairperson of Hohwa village wants the government to intervene and investigate the circumstances under, which the tycoons acquired the titles without the consent of the residents.
Deo Asaba ,57, a resident of Kisoba village, says that he was born and raised in the area, arguing that those claiming their central land are non-residents and unknown to them.
Badru Asiimwe, a resident of Ndongo village wonders how people who are not known to them are laying claim to the land that they have occupied for decades. He too demands that the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development intervenes and revokes the contested titles.
Fabiano Imaniraguha, the Kaseeta Parish Councilor says due to the oil and gas discovery in the Bunyoro sub-region, land grabbers and speculators have invaded the area with an aim of grabbing people’s land. He wants the government to avail people in Bunyoro free land titles in order to address the land-grabbing question.
Gideon Tumwebaze, one of the title owners told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that he genuinely processed and acquired his title after following the legal processes. Vincent Apha Opio, the Kabwoya Lower LC 5 Councilor, who doubles as the Kikuube LC 5 Vice Chairperson, says that as leaders they are doing all it takes to have the titles canceled since they were fraudulently acquired.
