SETTLERS AT RISK AS INDIAN MAN CLAIMS LAND IN MASINDI

By Yosam Gucwaki
www.mknewslink.com
In Masindi

Residents from three villages in Miirya sub county Masindi district are in fear of losing their land they are staying on after an Indian emerged claiming its ownership.
This comes after the village chairperson Emmanuel Muhumuza told the meeting that some residents from the area applied to Masindi district lands office for tittles of the land and were told that the land belongs to an Indian based in UK only identified as Bolter who allegedly acquired its title in 1923.
The village meeting was convened by the village leadership at Kibbaali church of Uganda at the beginning of this week when settlers expressed the fear that they might get evicted from their land.
Muhumuza told Nebert Musindi who is one of the residents who had applied for the tittles that he was advised by lands office to look for Bolter and negotiate with him on getting tittles of the disputed land.
However Muhumuza accused government of being unfair wondering how it could give such a big land to an individual and who is a non-Ugandan and who has never been seen in the area.
He noted that the citizens have stayed on the disputed land for the period of more than100 years saying that they are eligible to own it.
The affected villages include; Katagurukwa, Kahaara, Balyegomba and Kibaali Kitoonde.
Fred Sunday Kapimpini, a resident of Kibbaali who claimed he got a title for his piece of land in the village in 2014 suspects some sinister motive on the land by some people and wondered how he could have been given a title on the already titled land.
At the end of the meeting, residents tasked the committee that was selected to handle land matters in the area to get in touch with the relevant district officers so that they can go to the ground and address them on the matter.
We could not get a comment from Masindi lands office on the matter at the time of filing this story since the officer was not responding to our repeated calls.
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