On Monday, Jjingo backed by his family members threw out the casual laborers claiming that the State Minister for Lands, Dr. Sam Mayanja had instructed all tenants who lost plots of land to their landlords while appearing on the radio to reclaim them. During the fracas, Jjingo and his team demolished the house belonging to UCU.
Uganda Christian University-UCU Holdings limited is embroiled in a land dispute with John Jjingo, the LC I Chairperson of Kitete village in Mukono Municipality. The dispute started when Jjingo claimed the building hosting the casual laborers of UCU at Ntawo, where UCU owns a huge chunk of land.
On Monday, Jjingo backed by his family members threw out the casual laborers claiming that the State Minister for Lands, Dr. Sam Mayanja had instructed all tenants who lost plots of land to their landlords while appearing on the radio to reclaim them. During the fracas, Jjingo and his team demolished the house belonging to UCU.
John Lemi, the manager for Ntawo land under UCU holdings, said that their employees abandoned Ntawo farm because of repeated threats from the chairperson and his family.
He notes that Jjingo's action may incite more violence given the background fights between several tenants and UCU holdings, which runs Uganda Christian University and owns the land in question.
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Isa Luwangula, a son of Jjingo, says that their decision to vacate their house at Ntawo didnt mean that they had forgotten about it, adding that the university had no right to allocate it to its casual laborers.
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Mary Babirye, a resident of Ntawo says that some years back they used to see Jjingo coming to inspect the contested house before it was occupied by UCU staff. She also notes that his late husband used to tell her that the Jjingo funded the construction of the contested house.
The State Minister for Lands, Dr. Sam Mayanja couldn't be reached to verify his supposed instructions to tenants to repossess their plots. However, while inspecting land in Mubende district last month, Dr. Mayanja ordered resident district Commissioners to arrest landlords evicting lawful tenants.
On February 28, President Yoweri Museveni issued a directive prohibiting any eviction even if it is sanctioned by the court without the consent and direct observation of the district security committee chaired by RDCs in direct consultation with the Minister of lands. Mukono Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Henry Kitambula says they have not sanctioned any eviction within Mukono Municipality.
He notes that their office received information about the fracas at Ntawo and they instructed police to maintain the status quo as investigations are ongoing. The university owns one square mile of land at Ntawo. However, the university has met strong resistance since 2016 when it embarked on redeveloping the land.
