President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed landlords to stop illegal evictions of bibanja holders.
Museveni said this during the 35th Heroes’ Day celebration, which was held at Mpenja Church of Uganda Primary School playgrounds in Mpenja Sub-county, Gomba District.
He ordered that whoever has excessive nominal rent fees (obusuulu) should return them to bibanja holders immediately or risk being arrested.
“The landlords who have been charging more than the agreed busuulu fees by the district must return it back, and if they try to evict our people, we shall arrest them. You must pay back all the money you have taken from these people, and the evictions are illegal,” Museveni said.
He added “We said a landlord has no power to evict a Kibanja person, especially the one who was on that plot of land (Kibanja) by 1983. The only thing was to provide some nominal rent (busuulu), and that was to be fixed by the district land boards. The landlords must accept what we agreed in 1995 because Idi Amin had actually abolished mailo land, but we restored ownership in order to allow a win-win situation, but these landlords don’t listen to the NRM, and they think it’s a joke,” he said.
It should be remembered that in 1995, a new constitution was established and land rights were clarified, which stated that the land in Uganda belonged to its people and reinstated private land ownership. President Museveni was, however, dismayed to learn that landlords have decided to ignore the agreed-upon nominal fees paid by the bibanja holders on their land and are going ahead to evict them.
According to Gomba District LC5 chairperson, Geoffrey Kiviiri, the approved nominal fee paid to the landlords is Shs10,000 per year, but landlords have since declined such payments, leading to the escalation of land wrangles in the area. The president said new policies will be put in place to safeguard this.
“Maybe what we have to resolve in the NRM parliamentary caucus is to provide that if the landlords don’t accept, the rent fees should be taken and kept at the sub-county. All this suffering is not following what was put in the law,” Museveni directed.
He further asked the Resident District Commissioner-RDC for Gomba, Harriet Nakamya, to record all those under threat of eviction due to the nominal fees and see how to resolve the matter with their landlords.
At the same ceremony, the Minister for Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, issued land titles to 446 people in Kanoni, Gomba.
In tandem, 49 people were awarded medals for their exceptional contribution towards the socio-economic transformation of the country.
Among the awardees was Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Jumah Al Maktoum from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who received a distinguished Order of the Crested Crane first-class medal. He is a businessman and a member of the Dubai Royal Family.
