1,000 Nubians face eviction from Bombo
LAND BONANZA: Yasiin Mugerwa & Olandason Wanyama
KAMPALA/BOMBO
AN estimated 1,000 people, mainly Nubian families, face eviction from Bombo
Town Council in Luweero District.
Daily Monitor has learnt that the government wants to take up the 50- acre land
to relocate the Rehabilitation Centre for the disabled persons currently
situated at Lweza in Wakiso District, which has been taken over by an investor.
Officials of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, in October
last year, quietly offered the land in Lweza to an unnamed investor.
Under the deal, the investor is expected to construct a new multi-purpose
training centre for persons with disabilities in Bombo town council to replace
that at Lweza.
The deal, which the Parliamentary committee on Gender, Labour and Social
development sanctioned last November, has, however, provoked strong protests
from the Nubians who say the Buganda Kingdom donated the Bombo land to them
during the colonial era.
"As long as we live, we are going to fight for our ancestral land," Mr Mohammad
Wahib, the chairman of the Nubian community, said in an interview on January 16.
Documents obtained by Daily Monitor show that there is controversy over the
ownership of the land on Block 1026; Plot 65 Namaliga in Bombo Town with Henley
Property Developers Limited; a Kampala-based private Company, being the latest
claimant.
The company claims it bought the land from Mr James Ddagirira, who allegedly
acquired it from Mr Hussein Musa Mayanja, an administrator of the late Stanley
Kisingiri's estates, who in the late 19th century served as an agent of Kabaka
Daudi Chwa of Buganda.
But the Nubians, who originally migrated from Sudan and fought alongside
Buganda Kingdom and other colonial British forces, said the Kabaka of Buganda
rewarded them with the land in Bombo after they suppressed the anti-imperialism
Banyoro uprising of 1880-87.
That notwithstanding, senior government and Henley Company officials toured the
disputed land on December 19, 2007 to prepare for a formal takeover by the
Gender Ministry before its planned transfer to the investor for erecting the
proposed modern centre for PWDs.
"Henley (Property Developers Limited) is working closely with the Ministry of
Gender for the realisation of this objective," Mr Richard Mubiru, the company's
corporate affairs director said in a December 31, 2007 letter addressed to Mr
Geoffrey Kyomukama, the Bombo town clerk.
When Daily Monitor visited Bombo town council last week, the Nubian community
firmly rejected any tacit maneuvers by the government to either evict or
compensate them for the land.
"We have lived here and are going to continue living here (in Bombo) because
this is our ancestral land," 73-year-old Captain Ramathan Kassim, who says he
is a former governor of South Buganda Province in the 1970s, said.
"It is ridiculous that the government should have a hand in this," he charged.
This nascent row over the land in Bombo comes at a time when the central
government is pushing for amendments to the 1998 Land Act that would, among
other things, make it harder for landlords to evict tenants.
The Amendment Bill 2007 has already stirred resistance from Mengo, the seat of
the Buganda Kingdom, which accuses the government of fronting a suspect
legislation to dispossess registered landowners of their land.
Meanwhile the central government argues that the new law would enhance security
of tenure for both the landlords and tenants and criminalise evictions.
Mengo reacts
Mengo officials last week spoke angrily over the proposed takeover of the Bombo
land by the government and urged the residents not to yield to "land grabbers".
"This is land grabbing because Nubians are Kabaka's subjects and well
represented in the kingdom," Mr Medard Ssegona, the state minister for
Information in Buganda kingdom said adding, "They (Nubians) should resist
eviction because Buganda genuinely gave them this land".
The LCII Chairman for Nkokonjeru Parish, Mr Habib Juma said: "Whoever wants to
evict our people should bring a letter from the Buganda Kingdom canceling the
offer."
If the government succeeds to possess the disputed land, about 1,000 or more
people in Lutamandwa, Gangama and Kabulanaka in Bombo Town would be thrown out
from what they say is their "customary land".
NOC´LADUMAS GEORGES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
.hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage {
FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } So, why then are they not talking
about conducting a new election?? WHAT DOES THE BOOK SAY ABOUT RIGGED ELECTION?
---------------------------------
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:59:23 -0800
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Kenyan opposition calls for rallies to continue
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kenyan opposition calls for rallies to continue Katharine
Houreld | Nairobi, Kenya 20 January 2008 10:13
Kenya's opposition party, determined to bring down the government of
President Mwai Kibaki, has called for another day of "peaceful rallies" across
Kenya in defiance of a ban and despite the deaths of more than 20 people in
this week's demonstrations.
Police took forceful action at rallies from Wednesday to Friday protesting
against the December 27 presidential election, but opposition-party chairperson
Henry Kosgey told reporters on Saturday: "We will use each and every means to
bring down Kibaki's government."
He called for more rallies on Thursday, to the disapproval of the European
Union.
"Mass meetings ... can lead to violence," EU Development Commissioner Louis
Michel said, after holding what he called "positive" meetings with both Kibaki
and opposition leader Raila Odinga. He said both sides had "appealed to end the
violence", and had agreed to recognise mediation efforts by former United
Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.
Five more people died in ethnic clashes on Saturday when three ethnic groups --
Kalenjin, Kisii and Kikuyu -- fought each other with bows and arrows and
machetes in villages around the Catholic Kipkelion monastery in the Rift
Valley, about 300km north-west of Nairobi, according to a reporter at the
scene. Police confirmed they had arrived on Saturday afternoon and were
guarding the monastery, where hundreds of people have sought refuge.
Nearly 200 houses were set ablaze in what appeared to be an old argument about
land.
In a separate incident in Nairobi's Mathare slum, several homes were set ablaze
during several hours of running battles between Kikuyu and Luo ethnic groups,
said resident Boniface Shikami on Sunday morning.
Kibaki belongs to the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic group, and Odinga to the
Luo.
One man was beaten to death -- a Luo who was riding his bicycle through a group
of Kikuyus -- as the battles continued for several hours through the night,
said resident David Oromo. Police gunfire could be heard in the background of
his phone call.
By Friday, at least 24 people were killed in three days of protests called by
the opposition -- all but seven deaths blamed on police. More than 600 people
have been killed in Kenya's election violence, according to a government
commission.
'Cheating'
United States ambassador Michael Ranneberger said on Friday there had been "a
lot of cheating on both sides" in December 27 elections that pitted Kibaki
against Odinga.
Ranneberger said either Odinga or Kibaki could have won by 120 000 votes
because it was a close election and both sides are alleged to have rigged the
election. But David Throup, an associate of the Washington, DC-based Centre for
Strategic and International Studies, said in a public conference call with
Ranneberger that Odinga won by 120 000 votes.
Kibaki's power becomes more entrenched each day. The opposition's best hope may
rest in wrangling a power-sharing agreement that might make Odinga prime
minister or vice-president.
International mediation continued. A group of former African presidents --
Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa, Mozambique's Joachim Chissano and Botswana's
Ketumile Masire -- met both Odinga and Kibaki, Odinga told reporters after the
meeting on Friday.
Annan, the former UN chief, is expected on Tuesday to head mediation efforts,
his office in Geneva said.
Michel, the EU Development Commissioner, on Saturday met Deputy President
Kalonzo Musyoka and urged him to come to an agreement with the opposition
"because the consequence of chaos will be so important and so badly affect the
people and the region".
Kalonzo said: "We are trying to come out with a healing process and a process
which also ensures we engage each other as Kenyans in dialogue." He said Kibaki
is determined to spearhead the dialogue.
But Kibaki has said he wants direct talks with Odinga, while the opposition
leader says he will negotiate only through a mediator who can provide an
internationally guaranteed agreement. Odinga had previously supported Kibaki in
the 2002 election in return for a promised prime-ministership, which failed to
materialise.
European Parliament legislators this week urged aid cuts to help force Kibaki
to negotiate. His government says it will not be blackmailed and can support
itself. But the violence has cost the tourist-dependent economy at least
$1-billion, the Finance Ministry has said. -- Sapa-AP
---------------------------------
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