Minister of State for Lands and Housing Persis Namuganza talking residents of Bukasa Village
Joy, as close to three thousand residents of Bukasa Village, Bweyogerere Division Kira Municipality in Wakiso District finally acquire free land allocated to them by Government through the government policy of transformation of Ugandan society through use and management of land resources.
This follows a meeting which was held in state House Entebbe on Tuesday 28TH, November, 2023 between the President, state minister for Lands and Housing Persis Namuganza , together with the affected people led by their leaders John Kaddu LC1 chairman Bukasa Village and Sowed Ssemakadde the spokes person of the affected group .
In 2017, government came up with a plan to construct a Green Belt Port in Bukasa that will connect to Luzira port Bell with an aim of enabling easy movement of goods among East Africa countries and due to such plan announced to evict 2,783 residents and to demolish the structures to pave Way for the construction of the Green Belt Port, residents came out and ask the government to compensate them before demolishing their properties.
Several meetings were held in Bukasa between government officials and residents, reports were made on how the government was to compensate them since they were taken as encroachers on government land, and government compensated them according to the properties on grounds.
In the Meeting held in State House, Minister Namuganza told the president to help the people of Bukasa and give them land so that they can have a peaceful re-settlement because the Money which was given to them by the government was not enough to buy them land.
She also argued that the money was given to them in lock-down where everything was down economically and there was no movement from one place to another and they used the money to buy their families food and other necessities hence got finished during that covid-19 period.
President Museveni heard the outcry from minister Namuganza on behalf of the families of Bukasa and gave them land which is located in Mukono, Ntunda Village and urged them to use this piece of land to change their way of living in the way that they grow crops food , rare animals and also grow crops for Cash.
Namuganza appreciated the president for standing with the people of Bukasa and accept to give them land for re-settlement peacefully. She said, “it has been a tough war for residents of Bukasa to get where to vacate to because mafias in Government wanted to use this chance to grab land masquerading that they were fighting for residents of Bukasa yet they were fighting for their stomach.’’
She urged the resident of Bukasa to prepare themselves and vacate the area immediately so that the government can start the construction of the new port
John Kaddu the LC1 chairman of Bukasa said that he will ensure that not people vacate the said land as its planned because government have answered their claim, “so now each one of us should prepare for the vacation because we have no problem with government our players have been answered, we have got a new home which we are going to name `Canaan land’, those who will resist will face the big hand of law. Our new journey has started now.“ He stated.
Sowed Ssemakadde Bukasa the residents’ spokes person thanked the minister for being with them in tough situations and that they are in jubilation because of her efforts.“ She has worked so hard to fight Mafias who wanted to divert the president’s attention from our side and she convinced him and got them land to re-settle us.’’
Ssmakadde also applauded the residents for being patient enough not to resist going away because any time the state house land committee will be working for their title and if it comes out they will go to their new residence in Mukono,so no one will remain behind because they have got what they have been fighting for more than a year.
By Dailystarnewsug.com reporter