Residents of Kalagala village in Kiyindi town council have rejected officials from the departed Assians property custodian board (DAPCB) to open the boundaries of the land, chasing them with Pangas and arrows off their land.
The team led by Mr. Hirome Sabbehe Mayanja and the Buikwe RDC Jane Francis Kagaayi were implementing the Presidential directive to the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB) to fast-track the recovery of thousands of properties formerly under the management of the Board and believed to have been fraudulently taken over by wealthy business personalities.
These held a meeting chaired by the Buikwe RDC Jane Francis Kagaayi, to discuss the historical ownership of the land, trouble ensued when officials produced the original land title contrary to what the residents had; others started pelting stones at the officials.
The employees of the Custodian Asians custodian board were forced to abandon the meeting and seek protection in their cars.
The chaotic scene prompted the Buikwe police patrol to intervene and swiftly escorted the team off the land.
Over 200 residents risk being chased from this 1 square mile and they have vowed not vacate saying that they are in legal possession.
“We don’t have anywhere to go, this is the land we have been staying in since our childhood, we even have the burial site” said the residents.
The residents cried out to the president to rescue them from the departed Assians property custodian board officials they termed as land grabbers conniving with the Buikwe district RDC.
Mazinga Edward, the Mayor of Kiyindi town council, urged the affected residents not to vacate the land in question.
“Please don’t give up the fight against land grabbers on your land you don’t have anywhere to go,” Mazinga noted
Hirome Sabbehe Mayanja from DAPCB has asked the president to provide the board with an independent enforcement team.
“We have discovered that all the properties of departed Assians have people on it so without a special enforcement team nothing will be done,” Hirome said.
He also appealed to the locals claiming ownership on the said land to produce proof, instead causing chaos and fighting.
“If they know that they are rightful occupants, why do they fight? it is very simple let them show the evidence,” Hirome Asked.
Buikwe district RDC Jane Francis Kagaayi told the residents to cooperate with the government so as to resolve the issue, rather than fighting government programs.
The land in question is approximately one square mile and it was originally owned by the departed Indian Damuje Laston Boan, in the 1950s and was growing coffee on it, after the expulsion of Assians during Amin’s regime locals started