UGANDA, Kikuube | Real Muloodi News | Police in Kikuube district, Western Uganda are investigating the murder of Julius Nyaika Irumba, LC1 chairperson of Musaijamukuru Village, Buhimba Subcounty, who was reportedly killed over a land dispute. Irumba was 43 years old.
Mr Irumba, also a lorry driver operating out of Hoima, was hired by unknown persons to transport sand to Masindi on Wednesday October 19.
However, when Mr Irumba and one other reached Kinyaya Sugar Plantation the following day, they was stopped by a group of unknown men who emerged from the sugar cane plantation at Kasoingoire village in Bujenje county, Masindi district.
The assailants were armed with a panga, a knife, and a hammer, and reportedly hacked Mr Irumba to death. His lifeless body was found dumped in the tipper lorry he used to transport the sand.
According to the postmortem report, the deceased succumbed to blood loss resulting from the injuries inflicted on him by his assailants.
His associate, identified as Joseph Gubaza, was beaten into a coma. Gubaza was reportedly rushed to Hoima Regional Referral Hospital in a critical condition, where he is undergoing treatment.
Amlan Tumusiime, Kikuube Resident District Commissioner (RDC), says that Mr Irumba was killed because of a land wrangle.
According to Tumusiime, the day before Irumba was murded, he mobilized a group of community members from Musaijamukuru village to visit the RDC’s office to protest a fraudulently acquired title in their village.
He says that Irumba, together with the other village members, asked him to investigate how three people acquired two land titles for over 200 hectares of their ancestral land in 2020.
One of the individuals who allegedly acquired the titles has been identified as Buhaguzi East Member of Parliament, Stephen Aseera. The other two are Job Muhumuza and Charles Ochaki Nyabongo.
Mwajibu Kasaija, former member of the Buhimba Subcounty Land Board whose signature appears on one of the titles, has denied appending his signature on the application.
“In the four years I was in office, I did not see them in office applying for a land title. I am going to sue those three for forging my signature,” says Kasaija.
According to Tumusiime, Irumba complained that he had started receiving death threats from unknown people prior to his murder.
John Mbabazi, committee chairperson, corroborates this claim saying, “He told us that he had received a call that if he doesn’t shy away from land wrangles, something bad will happen to him.”
Peterson Kyomuhendo, a resident of Musajjamukuru and a neighbor to the deceased, wants police to expedite investigations into the killing.
Sam Barongo, also a resident of Musajjamukuru, says the deceased chairman had no quarrels with anyone in the area and is at a loss as to why he was killed in such a manner.
RDC Tumusiime assures the community that justice will prevail.
“I have spoken with the minister of state for lands, Hon Sam Mayanja who is going to visit this area on 1st of November to interact with the locals, and I can assure you that these land titles will be cancelled, and whoever has participated in the matter with the LC1 Chairperson will be got and will be prosecuted.”
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