UGANDA, Wakiso | Real Muloodi News | Police are investigating events behind the construction of six empty structures that resemble graves on disputed land in Kiteetika-Komamboga Village, Wakiso District.
Some of the land occupants say the six structures were constructed by unidentified individuals on the disputed land over one night on Tuesday, 8th 2022.
According to reports, Paul Bitarabeho, who passed away in 1990, owned the land in question.
Mark-Paul Bitarabeho, one of his sons, claims they received an eviction notice from unidentified persons in June requesting them to leave the more than 10-acre parcel of land.
“We have lived on this land all our lives, and we have been carrying out mechanised agriculture but we have never seen any burial grounds on it. However, in June we received people who claimed to be the owners of the land saying that they wanted to renovate the burial site of their relatives,” Mr Bitarabeho says.
“We resisted and also reported the matter to the police. They (perpetrators) always come wearing NRM yellow T-shirts and Muhoozi project shirts. We have no reason to doubt they are the ones behind the construction of these fake graves on the land,” he adds.
According to Bitarabeho, the graves were empty when they destroyed them.
“Police arrested some of our family members for demolishing the grave-like structures that were built by the encroachers at night. If they claim to be the rightful landowners, why do they have to renovate their said graves at night? Mr Bitarabeho asks.
The Bitarabeho’s operate a dairy farm, a fish farm, and a crop farm on the disputed land.
They perpetrators built the grave-like structures in a maize garden, after mowing down a section of the crops.
The Kitetika LCI chairperson, Mr Moses Asaba, says that before advising Bitarabeho’s family to go to court, neither his office nor the community was aware of the new claims to the land.
“At my level as an LC1 chairperson I have known this land to belong to Bitarabeho’s family, and the current claimants are not known to my office. This case should be taken to court where both parties will be required to produce sufficient evidence to prove ownership,” Mr Asaba says.
Luke Owoyesigire, the Deputy spokesman for the Kampala Metropolitan Police, says that they are aware of the land dispute, and criticised crimes of digging graves late at night before resolving the issues.
While they await the conclusion of the police investigations, Mr Owoyesigire urged the victims to file a lawsuit.
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