On Thursday, Kabaka Mutebi together with the Crown Prince Richard Ssemakokkiro made a surprise visit to Mulungo Landing Site to examine the situation on the ground.
Highly placed sources at Kabaka Mutebi’s Banda Palace told TV10GanoMazima that Mutebi was informed by his reliable sources in security that Hajjat Kabanda has written to Deputy Resident Commissioner (D/RDC) Makindye Division to allow traders and fish mongers to access the landing site after spending almost four years without allowing anyone to access the site.
Kabaka inspected the land on a guided tour and Baker Ssejengo the chairperson of Buganda Youth Council explained to him what is going on and how the Kingdom is protecting the area’s environment plus plans to develop it for the good of his subjects.
Denis Bugaya the Buganda Land Board legal manager and also spokesperson told TV10GanoMazima that Mulungo landing site is one of the properties President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s government returned to Buganda Kingdom and they have all the required documents showing their full ownership, and they are ready to protect it from any land grabbers.
He explained that the Kingdom took overall control of the landing site.
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However, in 2018, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and KCCA complained and were concerned about the way the environmental rules were violated on the site.
NEMA explained that it was wrong for vendors who were using the site to establish permanent structures at the shoreline yet this is only permissible if construction is done outside the buffer zone, which is 200 meters from the water body.
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NEMA further noted that the increasing Lake Victoria water levels left the market submerged posing a health challenge to residents which could result in disease outbreak.
Bugaya said that they made the assessment and established that the situation on the landing site was a danger to the public and agreed to close the site, and NEMA led the operation to evict people who refused to vacate the place peacefully.
He divulged that plans are underway to make sure that the place is protected from environment violators.
Kabaka Mutebi on several occasions has been asking his subjects to make sure that they protect the environment and stop encroaching on wetlands and cutting trees.
When contacted, minister Kabanda admitted that she wrote a letter to the IGP explaining of possible security threats in the area after the people who were evicted from the site threatened to riot and put the entire Munyonyo on fire.
“As a leader, I cannot look on when people are threatening to riot, you know visitors from other countries who came to attend the NAM Conference are still here and you want those people to embarrass us before the international cameras!” Kabanda wondered.
She added that she has no intentions of grabbing Kabaka’s land or return people back to the land because she is not the owner of the land but she wanted to lead the negotiation between the evicted people and leadership of Buganda Land Board so as to resolve the matter amicably.
