DP Hails Minister Kasule Lumumba for Foiling Kasanda Land Grabbing

The District LCV Chairman of Kasanda District in Central Uganda, Fred Kasirye Zzimula (a member of the opposition Democratic Party – DP) has hailed the Minister of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister Hon. Justine Kasule Lumumba for foiling a land grabbing case in his dominion.

Mr. Zzimula, in a note sent to the Minister which this website has obtained apologized for being absent during a Local Accountability Meeting (Baraza) by the office of the Prime Minister at Bukuya Town Council Head Quarters in Kasanda District.

“I appreciate your time in Kasanda and the situation did not remain the same. I was not given the chance to attend but no regrets, the work was done. Let’s build from there. Indeed, thank you.” Zzimula said in the note.

There is a contested freehold land (5 Sq. Miles) whose lease expired last year in Kitumba Sub-County, Kasanda and has brought unease in 8 villages in the district. Minister Lumumba obtained information that there was conniving from district officials in Kasanda and those from the mother district in Mubende to strip very many people of their livelihood on the land and grant it to one individual.

“It is actually the technical people who are conniving with certain rich people to process land titles without the knowledge of the people who are subsisting on the land. We have taken the matter up and will stop the process.” Lumumba told The Ugandan Wire.

The Local Accountability Meetings (Baraza) are part of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department at the Office of the Prime Minister and were setup as a Presidential Initiative in 2009. In that year, President Museveni directed the OPM to mobilize and engage the local citizenry in participatory monitoring and follow up on progress of implementation of government/public programs and projects.

Speaking at the Baraza, Dr. Micheal Iga Kyabikoola the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bukuya County in Kasanda District said the district officials planned to give away land to land grabbers fraudently and should be help accountable.

“When the original leaseholder passed on, what the district technical people did was to forge names of beneficiaries or descendants or administrators of the late and started a process of applying for a lease without even going through the District Land Board. Their documents had already reached the District Registry by press time but they refused to give us access to who had applied.” Kyabikoola told The Ugandan Wire.

Minister Kasule Lumumba ordered for the nullification of the land titles after discovering some hiccups in the whole exercise of application.

The Community Baraza in Kasanda was attended by local council leaders, religious leaders, the RDC, Mayor and the general population.