Africa-Press – Uganda. The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) is set to conduct a fresh valuation exercise on a piece of land housing the military training base and an airfield in Bukakkata Sub-county in Masaka District.
The 12-square mile piece of land, which stretches across Mikala Island and four villages, is currently occupied by more than 380 squatters.
The affected villages are Kisasa, Kiggo, Bbaale and Bukaayi in Bukakkata Sub-county.
Mr Ibrahim Ssekitto, the spokesperson of Masaka-based Armoured Brigade Barracks – Kasijjagirwa, said all squatters currently occupying the army land are going to be compensated to enable them to acquire another land for resettlement elsewhere.
Government had earlier, in 2015, conducted a valuation exercise when the army first announced to repossess the land.
However, Mr Ssekitto said they would not use the old rates since the value of land has since changed. In 2015, government had planned to pay Shs5 million for each acre of land.
“We are going to conduct fresh surveying of the land before we go ahead with the valuation exercise. After these exercises, the government will then consider compensating people depending on the new market price of the piece of land they occupy,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
This development comes at a time when squatters on the land were in panic fearing that the army is going to evict them without due compensation.
In a meeting with affected residents and local leaders last month, the locals raised their concerns saying they had nowhere to go since a big number of them have spent more than 30 years on this land.
“My grandfathers are buried on this land and if I am to leave, I have to be given a fair compensation to relocate their remains and my family to a new place,” Mr John Mubiru, one of the affected residents at Kiggo Village, said during a community meeting.
Mr Peter Ssenkungu, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson for Masaka District, urged the army to first sensitise the residents on how they will benefit from the project before effecting the eviction.
“There is need for the Uganda Land Commission to go down to the affected communities and inform them why the land is needed before taking over,” Mr Ssenkungu said.
Bukoto East Member of Parliament Evan Kanyike said they are going to do their best as leaders to ensure that affected residents get fair compensation packages.
The first attempt by the army to repossess this land was in 2015 but residents put up a spirited fight saying the Shs5m, which government was offering per acre of land, was too little to enable them purchase land for relocation.
Government insists all the affected villages sit on its land, which used to serve as a military base and an airstrip during President Idi Amin’s regime and people came later and settled as squatters.
Article 237 (1&2) of the Ugandan Constitution stipulates that all land belongs to the citizens but the central government or districts may acquire it in public interest as determined by Parliament.
It also holds in public trust all natural lakes, rivers, wetlands, forest reserves, game reserves, national parks and any land reserved for ecological and touristic purposes for the common good of all citizens.
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