The planned boundary opening of disputed land in Mpunge Sub-county, Mukono District, flopped on Thursday after angry residents turned up in big numbers and resisted the process.

The ownership of the piece of land measuring 645 acres is claimed by over 10,000 residents and Uganda Land Commission (ULC).

Last month, the government issued a boundary opening notification to the residents, indicating the boundary opening date for July 11.

However, the exercise did not take place following resistance from the aggrieved residents, who blocked the team of land surveyors from entering the contested land.

The residents vowed not to allow any exercise to gone until the minister of lands intervenes to resolve the matter rather than being treated like non-Ugandans.

Yazid Senkali, a resident of Sanga, said it was unfair for the exercise to take place without consulting them.

Senkali further noted that they secured titles from the district land board, and wondered why ULC was opening boundaries without consulting the district land board.

Leading the surveyors, Arthur Akanga assured the angry residents that the reason for their visit was to open boundaries of the land and their intention is not to evict anybody, but to find out whether there is unoccupied land that the government can use.

"Our presence is not to evict anyone, we have orders from the bosses to locate free land such that the government uses and leave the rest of the land to locals," Akanga said.

"On this land there are also cultural sites which include burial sites, historical trees which attract tourists both in Uganda and abroad, we are likely to lose our ancestry," Sirage Muwone, one of the villagers, said.

The genesis of the impasse can be traced in the year 2021, when Senegalese-American singer Badara Akon Thiam came to Uganda and earned President Museveni's promise of land to build a futuristic city.