Kikuube district residents want RDC Tumusiine to intervene in land conflicts with money lenders.
Drake Nyamugabwa
Over 100 residents from two villages in Kikuube District have rushed to the Resident District Commissioner’s office seeking intervention over money lenders allegedly grabbing their land and defrauding them.
The residents from Kakooge and Nyantende villages in Kigaaya West Ward, Buhimba town council in Kikuube district, accuse Johnson Kagoma and Felix Nyabongo and six members of his family of purportedly grabbing their land and always uttering false money lending agreements.
Led by their village chairpersons, the residents pictured above also accuse the money lenders of purportedly grabbing their properties including land and houses among others in guise of failure to meet their promises as per the agreements.
Handing their petition to the Resident District Commissioner, Mr Amlan Tumusiime, the aggrieved residents claimed that they have lost their property and money through the accused’s use of false sale agreements.
The RDC, Kikuube district, Amlan Tumusiime, expressed concern and wondered why money lenders were targeting old men and women.
He promised residents to engage members of the district security team since the matter has escalated into a security threat
The residents say the fraud reached its zenith during the Covid-19 lockdown when the accused allegedly evicted some of the residents from their houses.
Jacinta Kaahwa, one the distressed residents wants the RDC’s intervention to recover her property that she alleges was grabbed by Kagoma, claiming that her efforts to recover it, has instead earned her death threats.
Fred Rwabwogo, another complainant alleges that his nephews, sons to his brother, Nyabongo, have on several occasions threatened to kill him whenever he tells them to back off from his land.
Margaret Barwogeza and Juliet Bananuka are sisters to Nyabongo. They accuse their brother of claiming ownership of a piece of land their mother sold.
Bananuka alleges that her brother is regularly threatening them with death if they do not surrender the land.
Francis Ruta, also one of the affected residents says some people have pitched camp and are seen brandishing iron bars and machetes to anybody attempting to pass through the piece of land sold to a one Ahurra yet they have been using the same path for years.
When contacted, Kagoma dismissed all the allegations levied against him saying the residents are playing tricks to tarnish his name.
He alleges that the residents, last year, set his houses alight forcing him to rush to courts of law where the matter is being handled.
Kagoma says the residents are hatching a ploy to have him incarcerated with intent to grab his land while in jail.
He says he is a law abiding citizen who cannot move around with weapons to harm people.
