Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni has directed police to investigate circumstances under which more than 3,000 people in Nakasongola District are facing eviction, which has resulted in loss of life.
The presidential directive quotes the press story where Dan Ssebyala was brutally killed three days after he displayed spent cartridges when security guards attacked his home in Ndaiga Village, Lwabyata Sub-county, and shot in the air.
“After an article featured Wednesday, March 6, 2024, on page 2, running under the headline, “Land row: Man killed 3 days after story,” His Excellency the President directed that investigations be urgently carried out..,” Ms Suzan Kasingye, the Special President Assistant-in-charge-of Police Affairs, wrote in part to the Inspector General of Police.
The March 6 letter demands an investigation into circumstances under which the residents of Lwabyata and Nabiswera sub-counties in Nakasongola District are reportedly being evicted by Mr Jotham Mafende.
Nakasongola District leaders on Friday welcomed the presidential directive.
“We are happy that President Museveni has responded to the cries of his people in Nakasongola District and directed an expeditious investigation. The affected tenants, including a public school, among other facilities, currently live under uncertainty while many have already lost their land to the landlord,” Mr Sam Kigula, the district chairperson, said in an interview on Saturday.
On March 3, 2024, unidentified assailants waylaid Ssebyala and hacked him to death as he returned home from a trading centre in Ndaiga Village.
The incident happened after Ssebyala appeared story with spent bullets allegedly abandoned by private security guards who attacked his home and shot several bullets in the air in an attempt to force him to vacate the land that he said he had owned for more than 40 years.
The dispute involves the landlord who allegedly owns about 5 square miles of public land leased to him more than 15 years ago.
Nakasongola Resident District Commissioner Saleh Kamba said his office has received more than 50 petitions and complaints against Mr Mafende, whom he accuses of refusing to honour summons by the area security committee.
“We cannot sit and watch the people in more than six villages in Nakasongola harassed, and evicted from land by an individual who has no respect for any authority within the district,” he said.
“This land has a public school, community water dam, and Church, among other facilities,” he said during a district security meeting on March 1.
But Mr Mafende on March 2 told that whatever actions that the district authorities have taken were illegal.
“I own the land in Lwabyata Sub-county, Nakasongola District. I will respond to their allegations at the right time. It is not true that I evicted the school. This is propaganda because I have allowed the school to use a section of the land. The school will only lose part of the land which is my property,” he said.
The district security committee disarmed four private security guards deployed on the contested land and ordered access to all community roads and water facilities earlier fenced off by the landlord.
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