By Hanning Mbabazi
Wakiso: President Yoweri Museveni has ordered landlords to stop evicting tenants who have stayed on their areas for very long periods of time.
The President gave this directive during his Heroes’ Day speech at Kasanje in Wakiso district on Sunday, where he reiterated that the new land laws give people who have stayed long on land for a long time to keep there. He told the crowd that “Landlords who threatened you using some Army people to evacuate the land should be reported and immediately dealt with.” President Museveni had initially on arrival paid respects to the late freedom fighters and heroes who fought for the peace and liberation of Uganda. He observed their contribution by laying a wreath on the Kasanje Town Council Monumental Site.
At the venue, he saluted war heroes who died fighting for the political freedom, liberation and the peace that Ugandans are enjoying today. President Museveni said that Uganda is a land of heroes since it recently celebrated the Christian and Moslem heroes (martyrs) who died because of their faith, yet on Sunday also celebrated the war heroes. “On this day in 1981 at a village called Kikandwa in Nakaseke, the government army came and arrested nine of our supporters and executed them without trial and legal procedure. We have here a mass grave where we remember such people. All together in Uganda, there are 43 mass graves with a total number of 70,000 skeletons. We chose this day to salute the heroism of such people who died for Uganda to get peace,” Museveni said. President Museveni noted that while it was important for Uganda to celebrate her heroes, it was equally important for the people of Kasanje to engage in wealth creation activities to get out of household poverty. He advised them to copy the four-acre model farming that he had done at the Presidential Demonstration Farm in Kawumu, in Luweero district.
“Infrastructural developments like roads are for everybody. A drunkard, liar and a night dancer can all use a road but wealth creation is for an individual. Your leaders should get time and tour the farm so that you copy what I am doing,” Museveni said. During the function the President asked the parade to play a song called ‘Kino kye kiseera kyetuyina okuwona amagombe’, ‘This is the time to survive death’ to commemorate and celebrate the heroes that had fought for the country. The President also awarded and decorated medals to 100 people in the categories of Golden Jubilee, Rwenzori Star, Masaaba Star, and Luweero Triangle to outstanding individuals, civil servants and the military for their outstanding service to the country.
Parliamentary Speaker, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, 2nd Deputy Premier, Kirunda Kivejinja, traditional leaders, Ministers, MPs, heads and representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations, local and religious leaders, among others, attended the celebrations. Kasanje is remembered as a place that turned into an operational base and barracks for the then NRA rebels between 1980 and 1985. Hon. Dr. Paul Kawanga Semwogerere, the then President of Democratic Party represented the area in Parliament. The Uganda Freedom Movement rebels and the Democratic Movement considered it also as a natural haven for their activities where brutal arrests and killings of people took place. The President promised to work on the Mpigi-Kasanje-Nakawuka-Kisubi road. He commended the electorate in Wakiso district for sending him MP Peter Ssematimba and MP Rose Mary Sseninde, who he said he works well with.
