{UAH} Mu7 bites the hand that helped on his bush mission feeding
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'All police officers tell me they cannot help me because of instructions from above. That above can only be Museveni.'
A retired senior army officer who drove the 27 armed men, in his truck to launch the 1981-86 guerrilla war, has demanded to know why the president is looking on as police sabotage his business.
Brig Andrew Lutaaya is unable to use part of his five-square-mile land in Buwekula, Mubende district, because it is occupied by squatters protected by the police. He told The Observer recently that he believes the president's silence or inaction has exacerbated the matter and affected his business prospects.
"What did I do to him? Why doesn't he tell me what went wrong?" Lutaaya wondered.
The contested portion measures roughly 250 acres and is occupied by squatters who have refused to leave despite a 2008 court ruling and numerous meetings with local leaders and the police. The squatters mainly of Rwandan origin, he says, enjoy the protection of the police and some senior government officials.
"All police officials tell me they cannot help me because of instructions from above. That above can only be [President] Museveni," Lutaaya said.
Lutaaya, whose army number is RO-027, says when he talked to Museveni in 2010, the president promised to handle the matter but this has not happened three years later.
He said: "I do not want him to give me any money or a job. All I want is my freedom to do my work without any hindrance and it is him who can give me that assurance. Museveni found me working. I was already a successful businessman [by the late 1970s]. He came to my home in Bugolobi and told me to abandon business and join the war. He told me that after the war I would be able to go back and do my business. Now I want to do business but see what I am going through."
In October 2012, we reported that Lutaaya had accused Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, of frustrating his efforts to expand farming activities on this land. Lutaaya now believes if Museveni prevails over the police chief, everything will be settled.
But Tamale Mirundi, the president's spokesman, told The Observer yesterday that Lutaaya should not expect Museveni to intervene in his favour, especially if the president believes the rights of tenants are being abused.
"If the law protects the tenants, he [Museveni] cannot come in. The president cannot evict peasants," Tamale said.
He added that Lutaaya should not use the excuse of "having fought" to put the president under pressure.
"Lutaaya can sit with his tenants. Blaming the president is not the solution. He takes time to investigate issues and will find an amicable solution to Lutaaya's problems," Tamale Mirundi said.
Bought in 1977
Lutaaya says he bought the land in question in 1977 using proceeds he made from his cement trade in the 1970s. He obtained a lease from the Uganda Land Commission in 1985 and a land title in 2002.
He says when he went to the bush, squatters settled on the land, and immediately after the war he did not find time to develop it, as he was busy with administrative duties in the army. Later, upon retiring from the army, Lutaaya decided to rekindle his interest in farming and the land in Mubende was a good starting point.
But problems set in almost immediately. Some of the squatters refused to leave, claiming that they were bona fide occupants of the land as per the Constitution. He engaged them in a series of meetings, managing to persuade a few, whom he says he compensated.
Others stuck to their guns. To resolve the dispute, Lutaaya travelled far and wide, even reaching State House. In 2002, Fox Odoi, then a legal officer in the Office of the President, toured the disputed land and held meetings with residents. After his visit, Odoi made a report to the president, affirming that Lutaaya was the rightful owner of the land.
"Our finding is that they [squatters] have absolutely no plausible claim against Lt Col Lutaaya. The string of their complaints has resulted in substantive losses for him," Odoi noted in his November 11, 2002 letter.
Court battle
Still, the squatters did not give in. In 2003, Lutaaya took the matter to the High court by suing a one Lugwiza, Charles Mwesigye and Abel Mutimba for illegally occupying part of his land. The tenacious court proceedings lasted five years, but in the end he won.
In her ruling on November 20, 2008, Lady Justice Anna Magezi said: "The defendants did not enter the land with the consent of the plaintiff (Lutaaya), neither was their tenancy disclosed during the time the plaintiff obtained the certificate of title."
She continued: "They were neither bona fide occupants of the land, since they did not occupy the land in 1983 to qualify under the law or the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda...In the events as analyzed above, in this judgment, I reject the inconsistent, unreliable and outright lies peddled by the defendants and instead prefer the evidence of the plaintiff."
After this ruling, Lutaaya thought he had put the matter to rest but five years later, nothing is settled. Besides renting the land out to other people to cultivate, Lutaaya says the squatters have destroyed some of the infrastructure, such as the valley dams he had constructed.
He is now helpless. Currently, Lutaaya uses part of the land to rear cattle and goats. He says once the squatters have left, he plans to transform his farm into a modern one.
Rebel past
Tall, dark and burly, Lutaaya was in February 1981 chosen to drive the NRA rebels on their first mission to attack Kabamba military barracks. The rebels could not have found a more competent person, given Lutaaya's vast knowledge of the Mubende area.
After the war, Lutaaya worked in the directorate of military intelligence. Later, President Museveni appointed him commander of the Anti-Smuggling Unit, an extension of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
He was sacked from the position in 1994 and suspended from the army for six years on allegations of indiscipline. After the suspension, Lutaaya retired to private business.
