Col. Nakalema stops developments on Mutungo land

This land has been in the spotlight over the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) plan to evict over 200 families without compensation.

The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) says that the affected residents illegally occupied the land, which is a wetland.

Dispute over this land has been drawn out for over 20 years and so Col. Nakalema, hoping to finally arrive at some détente between UNRA and NEMA on the one side and the residents on the other, has asked security forces to ensure that the residents are protected from eviction.

She also directed security personnel to arrest suspects involved in the sale of this contested piece of real estate.

“Police shouldn’t allow any new occupant to come in this place. No one has a right to evict any person from this place at the moment. Please stay calm, the government will resolve this matter,” Col. Nakalema said.

She went further to request the Ministry of Lands to nullify land titles on the contested land saying said land titles were illegally acquired.

Col. Nakalema noted that the land is a wetland and so cannot be legally bought, sold or owned by any private individual.

She also instructed contracted surveyors to work with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to make sure boundaries between Mutungo and Butabika are precisely marked, the inaccurate delineation of the land being one of the issues causing conflict in the area.

Ms Allen Kagina, the Executive Director at UNRA, said that according to the constitution of Uganda land swamps or wetlands cannot be titled or owned. Accordingly, she asked Col. Nakalema to investigate how agencies in government came to issue land titles for this wetland.

She added that this very area is one of the interests in the ongoing Kampala-Jinja Express Road Project.

“We are planning to construct a road through this area but we cannot compensate anyone before conflicts are resolved because we may compensate the wrong people,” Ms Kagina said.