[UAH] Land issues- Moving Story

Moving story from New Vision: Mathew 5: 22-24.

 

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By Kizito Musoke and Hannington Nkalubo

The city tycoon who died mysteriously last week had been involved in a land buying bonanza. An attribute his relatives think he could have paid for with his life.

Haji Ismail Sessaazi, 38, had also been accused of grabbing land in Kampala, Wakiso and Mityana. Sessaazi passed away at Kampala International Hospital.

Known as Kawolongojjo, Sessaazi was a resident of Sseguku - Nazziba along Kampala-Entebbe road, but also had a home in Mityana.
The people who first suffered the wrath of the land buying spree were his own village mates whom he sent packing because he had bought the entire village.

Other villages that soon followed were Ssamba (his home village), Mpumudde, Kikonge, Kisaana and Nakabazzi, all located in Sekanyonyi sub-county, Mityana district. Over 600 residents were evicted.

In Seguku – Nazziba, he was accused of grabbing land belonging to one Kasozi. It is said he later sub-divided the land and sold it off as plots.

Sessaazi then went ahead to evict his own father from their ancestral land and settled him in Nzunga village, Nakaseeta, Busimbi sub-county. He then also sub-divided the land into plots and sold it off.

However, two years ago Sessaazi contracted a mysterious ailment that paralysed his arms and legs. He is reported to have visited several hospitals in Germany and India, but doctors failed to diagnose the sickness.

It is also alleged that he traversed the country visiting witchdoctors and herbalists, but they too failed to find a solution.

Sessaazi is reported to have started calling whoever he had bought land from offering to return it free of charge if they spared his life.

Residents of Mityana say they were shocked when the tycoon called all those he had taken land from, giving back land titles and sale agreements and for the debtors, he gave back whatever he had taken.

One of the residents who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity said he had a sh2m debt which he failed to clear.

As a result he lost his land and house to the tycoon but in January this year, Sessaazi called him and returned his land title saying he had forgiven him.

On June 2, Sseguku residents were stunned when the tycoon told them he had traversed the country and found out that the land buying spree was the cause of his mysterious illness. He informed them that he was giving them back their land so they could spare his life.

One of the residents, Livingstone Kaye, said although it is not good to talk ill of the dead, the tycoon was an unscrupulous businessman. He said they sold him part of their family land, but he instead grabbed it all. He said the tycoon razed his father's house but recently he gave them back the land which was also his ancestors' resting place.

Sessaazi is survived by two widows and several children. He owned fuel stations along Kampala - Mubende road and several other properties. He was laid to rest on Saturday.