UGANDA, Kayunga | Real Muloodi News | Bitter clashes have erupted in Ndeeba Village, Kayunga Town Council in Kayunga District, after former State Minister for ICT, Idah Nantaba, engaged in a land row with angry resident neighbours who are accusing her of destroying their property and crops.
Furthermore, the irate residents are accusing the Kayunga District Woman MP of grabbing pieces of their land during the process of grading her land in preparation of putting up a perimeter fence.
Mr Frank Kanawagi, the chairperson of Asoni Village, says Ms Nantaba hired a grader to level her two-acre piece of land, but in the process, crops and other property, including a toilet belonging to her neighbour, Mr Isa Matovu, were destroyed.
However, Ms Nantaba claims that she had previously given Matovu money as compensation for him to remove the toilet. This is a claim Mr Matovu denies, saying he and his family members were left stranded without any latrine facilities.
Crops including coffee, bananas, beans, cassava, jackfruit trees and others were destroyed by the grader, angering the residents.
“As the grader was razing down crops and other properties, I went and reported the matter to Kayunga police station, which prompted officers to stop the grader from going ahead with the work,” Chairman Kanawagi explained.
He added that instead of apologising for destroying their property, Ms Nantaba instead allegedly accused the already angry neighbours of fighting her all the time.
“I was grading my land. Those crops that were destroyed by the grader are not a big issue. You are just fighting me,” Ms Nantaba told the residents.
Ms Nantaba’s response angered the area LC1 chairman and residents, who also responded by accusing the former minister of lying to residents that she was fighting against land grabbing.
“You have become popular on claims of fighting land grabbers but you have just been deceiving us,” Ms Sarah Nawagi, one of the residents, told Ms Nantaba.
This resulted in a bitter verbal exchange between Ms Nantaba and the residents.
Witnesses say Ms Nantaba and Ms Nawagi nearly exchanged blows, forcing the former minister to call her Special Forces Command (SFC) guards, who arrested and restrained Ms Nawagi from fighting.
Ms Nantaba accused her neighbours of having ill motives and plotting her political downfall.
“This is just a political witch hunt,” she said.
The Kayunga District Police Commander, Mr Felix Mugizi, refused to say anything about the matter, but a police source that did not want to be named for his lack of authority to talk to journalists said that a file was opened.
“We have asked the complainants to come and make statement. We shall investigate the matter,” the police source said.
Ms Idah Nantaba was born in the same area of Kayunga, where she is constructing a home for her ageing mother, Racheal Naluwooza.
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