ALL OUT WAR! Mp Rukaari, Mbarara City North Mayor rift deepens
BY AMOS TAYEBWA
MBARARA
An all out war has erupted between Mbarara City- North Division leadership led by Mayor Gumisiriza Kyabwiisho and the area Member of Parliament Dr. Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari over land grabbing related matters.
The same matter has also dragged in councilors who have since taken sides.
The most contentious issue is to do with the Water Booster land grabbing scandal in Kibwera-Nyakinengo ward.
State House Anti-Corruption Unit and President Museveni have since been dragged in also.
Everyone wants to come out clean.
GENESIS
It all started last year when the issue was presented on the floor of council meeting where councilors blamed the executive committee for covering up grabbers on that land.
Councilors recommended and resolved that Mayor Kyabwiisho interdict the Chairperson Land Committee, Julius Ashabamukama.
However, the Mayor showed little appetite to implement the resolution on grounds that some of the Councilors were compromised by some of his political opponents just to blackmail and fight him.
WIDER PICTURE
Early January this year, a section of Councilors were invited by MP Rukaari at his home in Nkokonjero-Mbarara City to share with them a cup of tea.
They also used that chance to hand him a petition against the Division Mayor for allegedly aiding the land grabbers to take public lands.
In the petition, Councilors accused the area land committee Chairperson of connivance with some top leaders at Mbarara North Division and allegedly forged some member’s signatures to grab the Water Booster land. They blamed the Division Mayor for remaining silent on that matter.
After receiving the petition, on 10th January, MP Rukaari also extended his efforts and petitioned the office of Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke, the Head of State House’s Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) informing him about the abuse of office by the area land Committee Mbarara City North Division.
Rukaari, in his petition to SHACU, alleged that on the 15th April, 2020, the Chairperson of Land committee Mbarara City North Division forged the signatures of his committee members to effect land transactions for land situated at Kibwera Cell, Nyakinengo ward.
He added that the Chairperson’s forgery consists of a high level of abuse of office of authority entrusted to a public leader which should be investigated and the culprit be held accountable.
MAYOR FIRES BACK
A few days after Rukaari’s petition, Mayor Kyabwiisho petitioned President Yoweri Museveni challenging Rukaari’s allegations. He accused Rukaari of trying to sabotage land titling in Mbarara City North.
In his letter, Kyabwiisho told the president that the area MP who should have been at the forefront of helping especially on critical issues within the division because of his position as MP and member of the ruling party NRM CEC, local politics have instead consumed him and is trying to divert the division leadership from securing land titles by writing baseless letters to various investigative agencies.
He also mentioned in his letter that he expected the good MP to have brought these very agencies to help the division leaders sort out the issues of Rwenjeru South (Rwakabiko) where 114 hectares of land with over 100 homesteads were bought by the government but instead the bonafide beneficiaries have never taken possession but rather are being harassed, imprisoned day and night by alleged land grabbers.
He added that most of government lands were grabbed and shared by the previous leaders of the division and efforts of the current regime to secure titles for the remaining lands are being sabotaged by the area MP in collaboration with some councilors.
Kyabwiisho revealed that the issue of Kibwera Water Booster land that measures approximately 102 by 126ft is under surveying and is safe, secure and it was donated to National Water and Sewerage Corporation for water expansion in the neighboring villages by council resolution.
“Let MP Rukaari not dare to intimidate us, he has not secured any public land in Mbarara City North instead he aids the land grabbers. Why is he much interested in such a minor case yet we are the ones as the division leadership ensuring that all government lands are titled. He has started his political games but he will not manage. I am the custodian of public lands in Mbarara City North and I will die protecting them,” said Kyabwiisho, Mayor Mbarara City North Division.
Benon Kajubi, one of the Mbarara City Land board bosses told this publication that MP Rukaari did not do due diligence about land matters in Mbarara City North and this partly explains why he is colliding with the local leadership of Mbarara City North Division.
More so, Kajubi accuses Rukaari of disrespecting the City Land Board by not consulting them first to get the status of lands in dispute.
“Rukaari made a very big mistake of rushing to write to SHACU before he consulted us for a clear picture about the fate or the status of lands in Mbarara City North Division and the entire City. We had very vital information about Kibwera water booster land. As City Land Board, we already have the file about that land and we are in the process to give it approval for a land title. In my view, the Area Member of Parliament is just playing politics to forge support from the ground,” said Kajubi
Julius Ashabamukama, the Chairperson Land Committee Mbarara City North Division says that as the committee, they surveyed the land of Water Booster and the one of Bruce whom they say he alleged encroached on that land and they recommended the application from the Mbarara City North Division but there was no any forgeries made by the committee.
He says the issues about Kibwera Water Booster land involves a lot of politics geared by the area MP Rukaari.
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