New details have emerged pertaining to former Prime Minister Henry Muganwa Kajura’s grabbing of 510 acres of land during the covid-19 lockdown!
According to latest reports from Hoima, the veteran politician’s sons have also been implicated in this scam.
Our highly placed sources say that the hitherto invisible hand of the elderly former Deputy Prime Minister’s sons in the mega land grab manifested during the December 27, 2021 meeting which was convened at Kajura’s home at Nyakafunjo, Kitoba to try and resolve the scandal.
As per the sources, the meeting was attended by the 8-man committee representing the ‘squatters’ on the land, Kajura and his medical handler, his two sons, Kajura’s wife and other local opinion leaders including Mr. Kaliisa, the Kitoba sub county LC3 chairperson.
Chaired by Kajura’s son victor Muganwa, the meeting was convened at the request of the over 1000 people who risk being rendered homeless by the land grab.
Sources say that high on the agenda was the need by the affected locals to understand the true motive of the covert land grab and why the Kajuras had decided to play the matter calmly without either notifying or evicting the presumed squatters from the said land.
Kajura denies
We have exclusively learnt that following heated deliberations and questions from the angry locals, former Premier Kajura denied knowledge of the land grab, saying he has never processed any papers for that particular piece of land.
With the shocking disclosure, the locals turned their wrath on his sons, who sources say admitted knowing about the processing of the same title.
“We now suspect that those sons took advantage of their father’s poor health to process the title in his name,” a source said, disclosing that the elderly politician now suffers bouts of memory loss.
When squeezed further, Victor reportedly reiterated to the committee members led by a one Peter that despite possessing the title, the Kajuras don’t intend to chase anyone from the land.
“We couldn’t buy his explanation because we found it very suspicious because nobody possesses property but leaves in the hands of other people; it’s just not logical,” our source said.
The bait of betrayal
Sources add that when the locals’ heat on the Kajuras intensified, one of the sons proposed that the committee members agree and a portion of this land is subdivided amongst them so that “things can be amicably settled”. “This was however rejected because the committee is representing all people under the threat of becoming homeless. The suggestion was viewed as an attempt to corrupt them to abandon a noble communal cause,” the source says.
Once the proposal was rejected, Victor reportedly mooted another proposal, telling the committee that a caveat be put on the suit land until a final amicable solution is sought by the two parties.
“We are however also not comfortable with the proposal because we look at it as an attempt at being just cunning. If he puts the caveat on the land it will mean he owns it. We can only allow that if it’s the community putting the caveat on this land because the Kajuras have no rightful claim to it,” a source intimated to our Inspectors.
We have established that by press time, a drive to collect money for a caveat by the locals was still ongoing.
The locals however, vowed that they will not relent until they repossess their land. This is because they suspect that the Kajura’s are merely speculators on this land and could be using the then Minister’s constructive knowledge that the government was mooting a land fund through which it would pay mailo land owners not to evict tenants.
“That’s why we suspect Kajura and his sons are quiet and not chasing away people; they want to present themselves as landlords for the same land so that they profit from the impending compensation once this land fund is actualized. There’s definitely no other way to explain their strange conduct,” a source said.
Background
As we reported earlier on this website, over 1000 poor people are on the verge of being rendered homeless following allegations of fraudulent acquisition of their land by former long serving Deputy Prime Minister, Henry Muganwa Kajura.
This land grab happened during the covid-19 lockdown, almost at the time government banned land transactions all over the country. According to documents seen by our Inspectors, the contentious land is situated in Hoima district, comprised in Plot 159, Block 9 at Bugahya.
We exclusively established from documents in our possession that the land in question measures 255.1580 Hectares (over 510 acres) and covers 6 villages comprising two Local Council areas consisting of 6 villages. Particulars show that the land is in Kitoba Sub County, along the Hoima-Butiaba Road and encompasses Dwoli East and Kinyara Local Council areas.
Once this land grab grows into an eviction, the people who will be rendered homeless are in the 6 villages of: Wampanga, Dwoli-Masenge, Pesiyoka, Kahoto, Kinyara and Nankulabye.
Watch this space for more details!
