Africa-Press – Uganda. Muslims in Jinja City have put politicians implicated in aiding or grabbing their land on notice ahead of the 2026 general elections.
The Muslims say they specifically hold Juma prayers in mosques across the [Jinja] City and Busoga sub-region to “curse” politicians and “mafias” who reportedly grabbed over 20 acres out of the close to 100 acres of land owned by Bugembe Islamic Institute in Jinja North City Division.
“Come the 2026 elections, politicians implicated in aiding or grabbing any Muslim land should not expect any support and votes from us unless they voluntarily come out and testify,” Sheikh Ismail Adi Basoga, the district Khadhi, said.
Sheikh Basoga was speaking at Bugembe Mosque in Jinja North City Division at the weekend while meeting former students of the institute and politicians who intend to contest for various positions in the forthcoming general elections.
“We are not going to relent in the fight to allow anybody to take a spoonful of the land belonging to the institute that everybody is aware of. The Muslim community is not happy and are ready to do whatever it takes to get back their land from the Jinja mafia land grabbers,” he said.
“We are not going to give in just like that when it is on record that the land belongs to the institute. Whoever has participated in aiding some of the politicians in taking this land and you are Muslim, you will not have peace; instead, go back and cancel that land title,” he Basoga added.
Jinja North Member of Parliament, Mr David Aga Isabirye, described land grabbing in Jinja City as “very serious”, and encouraged residents to have their land titled to prevent it from being grabbed.
Mr Isabirye noted that land grabbers in Jinja City are “very intelligent” and “too sophisticated” that they have started creating titles on already titled land.
“What will happen to those who have not titled their land?” he wondered as he appealed to the newly-instituted Jinja City land board and area land committees to investigate the vice.
Jinja North Division Mayor, Mr Ayub Wabika, cautioned area land committees to serve residents diligently and respond to land-related cases as soon as possible when approached.
Ms Zainabu Nabirye, a resident of Bugembe, said to resolve land grabbing in the country, the government needs to empower the local leadership to protect people’s land from being grabbed by the rich.
She further noted that some of the village chairpersons and the committee members where land grabbing happens are never contacted by the grabbers, and that at the end, they are blamed for what they are unaware of.
Mr Ali Tenywa, a businessman in Bugembe, suggested that one of the ways to avoid land from being grabbed, is by giving it to the community to cultivate as a security measure such that in case anybody comes around to inspect it, they can quickly report the matter.
Bugembe Islamic Institute was started in 1971 as a primary school at Muslim Club on Mvule Crescent Jinja, teaching Islamic studies; later, it was allocated five acres of land in Bugembe on the Jinja-Iganga Highway where it currently sits.
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