{UAH} IS MUSEVENI USING BETTY KAMYA TO ONCE AGAIN DUPE THE BAGANDA OVER LAND??

Written by CHANGE OF GUARDS

The land question has been the most thorny issue in relations between Buganda Kingdom and the Museveni regime.  In Museveni's grand scheme of destroying the Buganda Kingdom, land alienation was top on the agenda.  His approach has been the deliberate impoverishment of the Baganda so that they find no value in their land and who in turn sell it off to non Baganda immigrants who in the long run will socially, politically and  economically dominate the region.  The different legislations and policy documents related to land by the Museveni regime target Buganda.  The 1998 Land Act and the Uganda Land Policy are not popular in Buganda.  On its part, the Buganda Kingdom has been carrying out a campaign of sensitization of its subjects over land matters.  The Land Act (Amended) Bill of 2007 culminated in three Buganda Ministers arbitrarily detained on terrorism charges simply because they were sensitizing the subjects over the Bill. The Landlord and Tennant Bill of 2008 and the Land (Amendment) Act of 2010 were viewed as anti Buganda to such an extent that even Museveni's then Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, had to openly criticize it.

At the end of the day, Museveni won the battle and the scheme of land grabbing by those close to the Museveni regime was set in motion.  All cries for intervention fell on the regime's deaf ears as it provided maximum protection to the highly connected perpetrators.  However, during the February General Elections campaigns, the issue of land grabbing had featured prominently against his bid.  To tame the tense atmosphere, six months after he had been sworn, in for another term he instituted a judicial Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters in December 2016.  The seven man commission led by Justice Catherine Bemugemeraire was sworn-in in February 2017 but did not commence its work.  In March 2017, the Opposition leader, Dr. Besigye launched the My Land, My Life campaign in Buganda meant to empower citizens to resist land grabbing.  Around May 2017, Buganda Kingdom also launched its Kyapa Mungalo campaign meant to guarantee security of tenure for the tenants on its land.  These developments prompted Museveni to flag off his Commission to commence its work in May 2017.

Initially, the commission's tenure was supposed to last six months but in November 2017, he extended it for another six months that ended in May 2018.  At this stage, the commission submitted an interim report with a number of recommendations.  While receiving this report, Museveni promised to "attach Senior Police Officers and Lawyers to the Commission to help in implementation of its decisions."  None of those promises and recommendations was effected but instead, he extended its tenure for another 18 months.  It became clearer that Museveni was simply buying time while diffusing and taming public rage.  Regime officials and other highly connected people treated the Commission with contempt.  The Chairperson of the Commission publicly lamented in February 2019;

     "……..the level of disrespect by government officials makes it difficult for us to continue investigations."

The then Attorney General, Rukutana humiliatingly told her off "……go and hang, I don't give a damn" when she tried to inquire into the suspicious 24b Shillings compensation for land by government.

During the same month, soldiers gurding one of the property under probe threatened to shoot her when she led the Commission in an attempt to access it.  In June 2019, the said soldiers received a Presidential Handshake and Heroes Medals for their "exceptional courage and professionalism" in blocking the Commission four months earlier.

In May 2019, the Chairperson's home in the Kampala suburb of Buziga was attacked.  In the same regard, junior, but very highly connected staff of the Commission's Secretariat who had been planted there traded files, conspired with the land grabbers and leaked information.  The Commission was also compromised by the vast amount of financial resources at its disposal.  During the COVID-19 lockdown, illegal evictions and violent land grabbing was intensified.  In April 2020, the regime pretended to intervene by ordering a stop on all forms of land sale, transfer, titling and evictions until the end of the lockdown.  Interestingly, the the vice continued unabated.

In September 2020, the Commission submitted its final report to Museveni. The Commission had covered 123 out of the total 145 districts carrying out public hearings.  Among its findings was that land grabbing was orchestrated by senior army and security officers, government officials and well connected individuals who use their offices and influence.  Acknowledging receipt of the report, Museveni promised to give it to the line Minister who would present it before Cabinet for discussion and formulation of a White Paper to address the recommendations in totality.  The probe had served its cardinal goal of diffusing public rage during his 2016 – 2021 term of office and he, as usual, put it aside.  The land grabbing and illegal evictions continued unabated only that in January 2021, he decreed that evictions would only be conducted between 8 a.m and 6 p.m from Monday to Friday.

During the January 14, General Elections, the region most affected by land grabbing, Buganda overwhelmingly voted against Museveni.  Obviously, institutionalized land grabbing was one of the reasons and the message by Buganda and the Baganda was loud and clear.  The now panicky Museveni once again moved to dupe them by telling his Minister of Lands, Betty Kamya to move around some parts of Buganda pretending to inquire into land conflicts.  She has already witnessed gruesome testimonies from helpless victims in Wakiso, in Luwero and the tour is still on. The issue here is; for how long will Buganda be taken for a ride??? He won't let go of Buganda's land because doing so would deprive him of a critical weapon in his scheme of delivering a heavy blow on Buganda.

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Rehema
Patriot in Kampala,East Africa:Assalamu Alaikum

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