The biggest argument the NRM Chairman, Yoweri Museveni, has put on the table to push for the Land (Amendment) Bill 2007 is that it will stop rampant eviction of peasants from the land. This sole argument has been chorused by all paid up cheerleaders in and outside Parliament.

In a brief dated October 15, 2007, Lands Minister Daniel Omara Atubo revealed that after a Cabinet sitting on September 26, 2007, the President chaired another meeting in which he directed that a law - Land (Amendment) Bill 2007, be passed.

Museveni directed that no eviction should be made without the prior consent of the minister and that adequate compensation must be made. The occupants should be given the first option to buy, he directed. I have played back the tape to remind you when and how this Land Bill circus started. It started in September 2007 on the orders of General Museveni.

What Ugandans ought to understand is that Museveni is not pushing for the Land (Amendment) Bill 2007 to stop rampant evictions as he or his cheerleaders are claiming. Having grown up in a harsh environment, Museveni took on socialism/communism ideals that appear to have made him hate property owners.

The only contradiction is that the more he hated them, the more he sought to emulate them and today he is as much a property mogul as Sudhir Ruparelia or Mukwano. The nature of the 1981-86 bush war made Museveni wander around the bushes of Luwero Triangle. One of the discoveries Museveni made while traversing Luwero was that some Baganda families still owned big chunks of land.

The man who went to the bush to fight rigging of elections and extra judicial killings, added redistribution of land to his agenda. In one of the bush meetings, Museveni told his fighters that after capturing power, they would have to address colonial land distortions.

Magala Enkuba Ejja, who at one time deputised Maj. Gen. Saverino Kahinda Otafiire in political education and mobilisation, sensed danger and told Museveni that the Baganda had not joined the struggle to pave way for land grabbing. The late Magala, a great mobiliser, was one of the land owners in the area where the NRA operated.

I am told by veterans of this war that Magala mobilised the Baganda fighters and told them grabbing land was now one of the reasons they were fighting. This unsettled the ranks of NRA and Museveni had to address an additional meeting in which he claimed he had been misunderstood.

Museveni abandoned his land agenda but didn't forget it. It was resurrected during the final consideration of the now abandoned NRA/M Ten Point Programme during a meeting at Lubiri. You could ask those who attended this meeting, including Col. Amanya Mushega, Col. Tom Butime, Gen. Mugisha Muntu and Capt. Abbey Mukwaya.

Because of its sensitivity, especially at the infancy of the NRA government, the 11th point on land was shelved. I am bringing this history to prove to you that the issue is not eviction but a historical desire by Museveni to unsettle the land tenure system in Buganda. If Museveni had not himself fenced off villages in Gomba for his Kisozi farm, I would have thought he doesn't believe in huge acquisitions.

Fortunately for him, he has thousands of guards who are paid using our taxes to guard his land acquisition.

Museveni has created an impression that all big land owners got it from colonialists but what about himself or his lieutenants such as Amama Mbabazi, Amos Nzeyi, Col. Phinehas Manoni Katirima, Brig. Henry Tumukunde, Gen. Salim Saleh, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, etc?

Let us face it, land is wealth and I would be surprised if people who have looted NSSF, CHOGM preparation funds, soldiers' salaries and other supplies, didn't find land worth stealing.

To own land or do any business in Uganda today, you need the protection of the clique at State House. That is why Godfrey Kirumira, Med Sebaggala, Sudhir and Gordon Wavamunno over the weekend attended an NRM fundraising function at which they donated millions to Amelia Kyambadde, one of the most powerful people in State House.

After the promulgation of the 1995 Constitution, Museveni said he was happy with everything else except the provisions on land and the changing of the name of his army from NRA to UPDF.The 1998 Land Act which has failed to work, the reason we have these equally unworkable piecemeal amendments, was to fulfill this historical desire of an African dictator who is involved in acquisition of land yet he wants it outlawed.

I wish all Ugandans a happy Eid-al-Aduha.

The author is a journalist and aspiring politician