By Andrew Irumba
Wakiso: There is a bloody feud raging on between the Entebbe Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Rose Kirabira, and the Wakiso Deputy RDC Noor Njuki, over a contested chunk of land in Kasanje Sub-county.
The land under contention is located along Mabamba Road in Kasanje Sub County, Wakiso district and measures eleven acres. But several people who include Kirabira, Nkuki, tycoon Godfrey Kirumira and Engineer Moses Angol all claim to own part of it. It is said that the land was first sold to Kirumira by Julius Bitature in 1997, but Angol, a businessman in Entebbe, also claimed to own the same piece of land with a different land title. However, sources in Entebbe claim that Kirabira sides with Kirumira while Njuki sides with Angol, all claiming to have bought the land from Julius Bitature, a resident of Kasanje town council. It has however been established that Bitature never sold land to Kirumira but that the tycoon obtained a title of the land as security to a loan that he gave to Bitature. Now Kirumira, through Kirabira, has written to the Ministry for President claiming to have offered a bribe to the Wakiso deputy RDC of up to Shs50m to help him secure the piece of land, an allegation the Njuki denies. Currently, the Wakiso RDC shuns calling Njuki in meetings with Kasanje residents over the land wrangle, despite Njuki being the custodian of the area.
“Maybe she wants to remain the deputy RDC in charge of Entebbe,” Njuki says. Last month, Ronald Kasule, one of the residents occupying the contested land indicated that the battle for ownership of the land has led to increased instability within the area. Kasule says security personnel are currently threatening people who live on the disputed land to vacate it before they are forcefully evicted. In March 2019, Angol petitioned Entebbe Magistrates court requesting the Chief Magistrate Mary Babirye to halt all activities done by Kirumira on the contested land although the tycoon seems to have underlooked the court order and has since resumed his demand for the land. Court is yet to determine the rightful owner of the land.
