Several gangsters commonly known as ‘kifeesi’ were on Tuesday arrested in a police operation mounted after residents of Ntaawo cell in Goma Division reported unrest resulting from death threats by the gangsters brought to the village by members of the family of the late Hamu Mukasa to allegedly guard their land from encroachers.
According to reports, some of the people targeted to be wiped out include Mukono Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Hajat Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka, Mukono Division Police Commander Ben Mugerwa and the DISO.
The land in question is a subject of contention with an ongoing court case between Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono and the family of the late Ham Mukasa. The administrators of UCU however alleges that Ham Mukasa before his death, he personally donated this land to the Province of the Church of Uganda and it is the latter that entrusted the land to the university, for further development.
On Tuesday, district security operatives led by the RDC, Hajat Ndisaba held a security meeting at Ntaawo with Hamu Mukasa family members, bibanja holders on the land and UCU representatives, and attended by the UPDF central region military intelligence officer Lt. Col. Moses Ssegujja.
On learning of the meeting, the gangsters fled and hid in a local pub from where they were rounded up and taken to Mukono police for interrogation.
During the meeting, Hamu Mukasa’s family members defended the alleged gangsters saying they were volunteer operatives brought to guard their land from encroachers whom they said had started constructing on the land although there is a court case pending completion.
This is where the RDC told the meeting that they had received information to the effect that there were death threats for her, the DISO and the DPC, with the gang members issuing express orders for the trio to desist from visiting the land again.
She appealed to land owners to desist from using underhand methods of evicting bibanja holders, and warned that whoever was involved in issuing death threats to her and other security officials will be arrested and brought to book.
In their report, bibanja holders told the RDC that they live in fear and are on tension following incessant threats, including blocking them from collecting food from their gardens. A resident, Joshua Ntume, 92, said he has been tilling his kibanja after a court order ordering him to continue using it, but the ‘kifeesi’ agents were continually threatening him.
The LC I Chairman David Sseruwagi concurred with the residents regarding the issue of scaring them away from their gardens, although Hamu Mukasa family members maintained their stand that they brought law abiding citizens to guard their land.
UCU lawyers headed by Samuel Kigaye maintained that Hamu Mukasa family members know very well that the land they claim belongs to the university which has the land title to support their ownership.
DPC mugerwa lamented about the rising crime rate in the area, and ordered residents to stop meddling in land wrangles and leave the rightful authorities to handle such matters.
Land ownership disagreement on this land has a long history and once attracted the intervention of the Church of Uganda Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu to try to mediate and push for an amicable resolution of the matter though his intervention is yet to yield results.
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