A team of detectives from the Kibuli-based Police Land Protection Unit is tomorrow (Thursday) November 3, 2022, expected in Kikuube District to investigate allegations of land grabbing purportedly by the Buhaguzi East Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Stephen Aseera Itaza.
The MP disclosed that the detectives are also coming to the ground to investigate how his signature and National Identification Number (NIN) were allegedly forged, appended, used and appeared on Musaijamukuru and Mukabara land titles.
The land titles covering three villages of Musaijamukuru A&B, Kibiingo and Mukabara in Buhimba sub-county, Kikuube district are claimed to be owned by Mr Itaza and two others including the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Prince Charles Olimi Nyabongo and Mr Job Muhumuza.
During a meeting with a section of residents of Musaijamukuru and Kibiingo villages at Musaijamukuru Church of Uganda premises, the legislator said he had already recorded a statement at the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Police Land Protection Unit distancing himself from the fraudulent act.
He told the residents that it is illogical for him to grab land belonging to constituents in his area of political jurisdiction.
Mr Itaza described the allegations as a mission championed by a section of his political opponents aimed at mudslinging him with intent to bring him down in his political circles.
He said in the letters, he requests the authorities to cause the cancellation of the purported land titles that has earned him a bad reputation among the residents and the entire population of Bunyoro.
The Buhimba Sub-county Local Government Secretary for Social Services, Ms Margaret Kobusiinge who represented the Chairman, said council wondered how Mr Itaza’s credentials appeared on the land titles adding that the authorities are applying all legal ways to ensure that they are cancelled.
The Kibiingo Village Chairman, Mr Johnson Kyamanywa Karugonjo, called for team work among leaders and residents of Kikuube district to have the land titles cancelled and the culprits apprehended since it is on record that Mr Itaza does not own any land in the areas of dispute.
Mr John Kembabazi, one of the affected residents in Musaijamukuru said it baffled him when he heard that the area Member of Parliament fraudulently acquired a land title in their area.
He urged politicians in Kikuube to work together to develop the district instead of engaging in dirty politics if, anyway, it is proved that Mr Itaza is innocent.
The land in contention that measures 270 hectares was purportedly titled by Mr Itaza, Prince Nyabongo and Mr Muhumuza in 2020 at the time when presidential directives not to transact or to produce any land title were in place.
