State of dilemma for Uganda’s economy as President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has summoned the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Jane Frances Abodo, the newly appointed Inspector General of police (IGP) Abass Byakagaba and officers from the Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development led by senior Minister Judith Nabakooba and Dr. Sam Mayanja who is the junior minister in charge of lands.
According to highly placed sources told TV10GanoMazima, that the meeting is expected to take place this week and Suzan Kasingye the Special Presidential Advisor on police was assigned by the president to coordinate the said meeting.
Sources said that the president summoned the meeting after receiving a detailed report revealing how the country is sitting on a time bomb over land issues.
The president wants Nabakooba and her team to explain to him how they created land titles on top of the existing ones which land grabbers are using to fraudulently evict rightful land owners.
Sources said that Museveni directed a clandestine investigation after receiving several complaints from prominent families in the cattle corridor especially in the districts of; Ssembabule, Gomba, Nakaseke and Nakasongola districts; Ankole sub-region and in Northern Uganda alleging that their land is being threatened by land grabbers who are being backed by government officials.
He added that President Museveni evn instructed his lawyers to rescue his land title in Kisozi which was encroached on and the encroacher had even secured a land title on top of his.
One of the lawyers who represents President Museveni confirmed the development revealing that they used the legal process to cause the cancellation of the illegal land title.
He further explained that the land grabber was planning to use the illegal land title to blackmail the President so that he is compensated with billions to avoid bad publicity.
Sources said that Museveni received a complaint from Chief Justice Dollo accusing top government officials including army officers of fueling land grabbing in Northern Uganda hiding behind the Balalo.
Sources added that in one of the meetings in Kisozi, Museveni was informed that one of the reasons why people have not utilized their land through the four acre model is because they are being threatened with eviction.
The President was also informed that the number of people being killed in land fights has increased while others have got permanent bodily injuries and their properties worth billions of shillings destroyed.
“One of the reasons why President Museveni was defeated in the 2021 general elections in Buganda was because of rampant land evictions and related problems, so he is very determined to solve it basing on the report compiled by his private intelligence team,” a State House source said.
The president, according to sources, wants the Chief Justice Dollo to clarify on allegations that judicial officers issue eviction orders and other court orders related to land issues after being compromised and given bribes by land grabbers.
Judicial officers are accused of violating the Chief Justice’s directives on land matters including visiting the locus and issuing the directives based on documents and testimony which has resulted into delivering confusing judgments.
However, insiders in the judiciary said that the judiciary will be represented by the Deputy Chief Justice Richard Butera because Chief Justice Dollo is sick and he is allegedly out of the country receiving medication.
Sources said that the meeting will also discuss the crisis which banks and other financial institutions are going through and are likely to lose billions of shillings.
Sources claim that banks and other financial institutions issued loans on forged land titles and when the people who secured the loans defaulted, the banks now cannot sell the land titles used as security.
This development was confirmed by Minister Dr. Sam Mayanja who explained that the most affected banks are those operating in districts of Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga and Wakiso.
State House sources divulged that the issue of the Resident District Commissioners (RDC) and their Deputies plus the Resident City Commissioners and their deputies will also be discussed and a reshuffle may ensue thereafter.
Minister Mayanja asserted that in most of areas he has visited to solve land problems, RDCs have been cited in land grabbing and evictions.
He mentioned the districts of Mukono and Kyankwanzi where RDCs as the security chairpersons violated the presidential directive on land evictions and allowed evictions to take place in their respective areas.
He explain that the President directed that before any court order is executed, the security committee of the area has to first examine it and forward it to the Minister of Lands for guidance which is not being done in Kyankwanzi and Mukono districts.
The president also wants to know from Byakagaba why policemen are protecting land grabbers and detaining rightful land owners especially the bibanja owners.
Minister Mayanja also accused police of conniving with RDCs to frustrate his orders that are meant to protect the rightful land owners.
He revealed that these RDCs with the help of police detain rightful land owners and upon releasing them, force them to run into hiding.
The presence of the DPP will guide the meeting on how the suspected land grabbers can be prosecuted.
Sources said that the Attorney General together with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs are set to table land reforms in parliament before the end of this political term.
The coming land reforms will be guided by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s land inquiry report.
