Row over ‘Kibaki land’ in Uganda

Police in Uganda were involved in a scuffle with a retired army officer, Brig Kasirye Ggwanga, who was accused of occupying a piece of land said to belong to former President Mwai Kibaki.

According to Sunday Monitor newspaper, Ugandan deputy commissioner of police stormed Brig Ggwanga’s residence in Kizungu, directing that the retired officer vacates the plot of land he is occupying for it belonged to the former president.

Brig Ggwanga however opposed the eviction claiming that Mr Mugabi and his team had gone to his house without any court order.

“They came here without any instrument claiming I was staying in Mr Kibaki’s house. I told them to go to Mengo and find out who leased this property for 49 years,” Brig Ggwanga said during the Thursday incident.

It was later established that Mr Mugabi’s team seemed to have mixed up the plot numbers as the document they had showed plots number 273 and 732 instead of 461.

“This is my property. Have I gone to Kikuyu land to claim ownership of a house there? How did Kibaki acquire this property?” the retired brigadier asked.

He said he had so far stayed in the same house for 20 years and would stay in the same house, “and even renew my lease after 49 years have elapsed”.

When the police spokesperson, Ms Judith Nabakooba, was contacted, she said she was not aware of the operation to evict Brig Ggwanga.

Asked whether he pulled out his gun and chased the security personnel, Brig Ggwanga said: “I didn’t do that. I only told them to vacate my premises because they were disturbing my peace.”

Brig Ggwanga said the officers said they had come to evict him from a property in Lukuli, a low-end suburb “yet I stay in Kizungu”, an up-scale area.