Tabu Butagira
24 October 2008
Kampala — Over 100 families of struggling peasants in Kiboga District have been ordered to immediately vacate a 640-acre private Mailo land, which Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, the chief of Defence Forces, wants to urgently acquire for private investment.
Gen. Aronda confirmed to Daily Monitor that he made advance payments to Mr Gideon Kibirango, who claims to be the registered owner of the 259-hectare land in Singo, but the transaction could turn sour due to ownership wrangles.
Daily Monitor has learnt that the contested land on Block 710, Plot 19 (formerly Plot 9) was initially registered as a private Mailo property in the names of late Matayo Kidimbo Mpanga on March 9, 1931.
Mr Kibirango says Mr Ibrahim Lumu, a grandson of Mr Mpanga, now claiming to be the heir and administrator of the deceased's estates is an impostor. He said neither his father, the late Levi Kafumbe nor Mr Mpanga sold the land in dispute to any one.
The family has now slapped a caveat on the one square mile land and told the tenants, some of who paid envujjo (tithes) to Mr Kafumbe until the abolition of the taxes in 1975, not to panic.
Gen. Aronda said, "I told Mr Kibirango to sort out the (proprietorship) problems before I could finish paying, but I am still interested in the land."
The general claimed to have forgotten the amount of money he paid to Mr Kibirango, clarifying that the contested land in Kyerere, Gayaza Sub-county has not formally been transferred in his particulars. But residents said an acre of land there costs Shs200,000 implying that Gen. Aronda could have paid Shs128 million for the 640 acres.
That as it maybe, Mr Kibirango, the seller, has notified the bona fide tenants, some of whom said they were born on the land in the 1950s, to pack and leave.
"Let me take this opportunity to introduce to you the CDF, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima (who) from today onwards, has taken the responsibility of doing anything he wishes on that land ...," Mr Kibirango wrote in an April 25, 2007 general public notice.
The letter copied to the Kiboga RDC, the district Police commander and Kyerere village chairman Frederick Ssekyesero, caused panic button among residents already troubled by alleged routine torture by some UPDF soldiers.
Mr Ssekyesero, said the Military Police, who these days visit his constituency regularly, have stopped residents from cultivating and erecting permanent structures in the area, forcing many to farm in fields of relatives in neighbouring Kibaale District. "Life is very difficult for us now, and my people fear being evicted by the soldiers at any time yet there is no one or authority willing to help us," he lamented.
Daily Monitor visited the disputed site, located 35 kilometres west of Kiboga town, and saw columns of women - some with babies strapped on their back - trudging in the sweltering afternoon from the side of Kibaale District while balancing loads of food harvest on their heads.
They brave steadying on a single-log overpass to cross Kanangalo River during their daily 8-kilometre gardening return-voyage to Kibaale District, but for those without generous relatives, it is a sad tale of starvation, fear and endless suffering.
"They (cattle keepers guarded by soldiers) bring their cows into our gardens to destroy our crops. We no longer cultivate from the area and this has resulted in shortage of food for our families, and famine is looming," said Ms Annet Walakira, the LC I vice chairman.
The place that the army chief is eyeing is a vast fertile agricultural land, although it is unclear what investment he intends to undertake on the thickly forested site. A resident said Gen. Aronda, has indicated he wants to set up fish ponds at the border with Kanangalo River.
Only the noise of chirruping birds, and the sound of the racing river interrupt the ghostly quietness hovering over the undulating expanse of land where narrow paths lead to mainly deserted homesteads with overgrown compounds as residents, too afraid to touch the soil, cannot tidy their premises or grow vegetables/fruits in the backyard to subsidise food supply for families.
In various interviews on October 13, the tenants said none of the several government officials, including Mr Edward Ssekandi, the Speaker of Parliament, whom they approached for help, has acted.
At the start of the wrangles, a group of UPDF soldiers allegedly led by Mr Kibirango, descended on the village; clobbering residents, and slashing down crops and demolished Kyerere Vocational Training Institute and Birama Primary School, displacing 190 students in a conflict spanning five years.
The nearest school for the children is said to be Nankandula PS, which is about five kilometres away. Retired UPDF Captain George Kamanda, 51, the proprietor of the schools and one of the main complainants, said he had not formally registered any of the educational institutions by the time they were razed down in 2002.
"They threw out all the books and split the desk as firewood for the cattle keepers to prepare food," Capt. Kamanda said. His resistance got him in trouble as he was fined Shs300, 000 after being convicted of assault.
Gen. Nyakairima said he did not order the demolition of the schools saying, "I know the value of education." "Educational institutions provide not social services but are also politically sensitive," he said.
Mr Kibirango, accused of forging a land title on October 22, 2002 to effect its sale to Gen. Aronda, declined to talk to Daily Monitor to explain his side of the story in spite of several appointments in the past three weeks. It is alleged Mr Kibirango introduced the batch of soldiers said to be terrorising Kyerere residents and making life such a nightmare.
Ms Federesi Nankula, 25, and mother of six said, "The soldiers came and chased us away. When we refused to go, they slashed down our banana and coffee plantations, and also burnt our house, and this was at 10 am some time in 2003. We have now migrated to stay with some relatives in Kibaale."
Another resident, Mr Simon Ssebona, said as he strolled home one evening, he bumped into a group of uniformed guards that inquired about his intended destination. "I told them I was going home and they just started flogging me and said I should vacate the land in two days. Afande Muwoya was their commander," he said as he fought back tears.
He said the guards claimed that his father, Mr Gestive Bukenya, who was dragged from Kibale Dstrict and brought to sign a land transaction document at gunpoint at Gayaza Sub county headquarters, had sold the family land.
The involvement of Mr Kibirango has been associated with two men; Mr Ben Kamugisha and Mr Kawooya Jamanda who stormed the area and fenced off the contested land for livestock.
The land was fenced for as a paddock for livestock.
The cattle allegedly belong to Gen. Aronda, but we could not independently verify this information since the army chief said Mr Kibirango was best placed to comment on any matters relating to the land.
Maj. Paddy Ankunda, the Defence and Military spokesman said he was not aware of the reported land wrangle involving some soldiers. "All I know is that the army cannot chase away civilians because we are here for them," he said.
Surprisingly, the land transaction is coming at a time when government is pushing for the immediate enactment of the 2007 Land (Act) Amendment Bill, ostensibly to protect tenants from eviction by moneyed people, as is the case in the Kyerere conflict.
President Yoweri Museveni has personally thrown his weight behind the proposed land law that Buganda government, among other opponents, claims is a central government plot to grab land. It remains to be seen how Gen. Museveni will respond to the alleged involvement of his most trusted military chief, Gen. Aronda in the acquisition of the vast land, which has led untold suffering to civilians that the army prides itself in liberating. Kiboga District is part of the Luweero Triangle where Gen. Museveni fought his way to State House.
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