WAKISO – The State minister for Lands, Ms Persis Namuganza, has directed police and lands officials to thoroughly investigate how one person was shot dead and another lost his legs in a shoot out as private guards battled residents during a land wrangle in Kito Zone, Kira Municipality, Wakiso district.
According to Kira Resident District Commissioner, Mr Joseph Ssekasamba, Mr Namuganza is expected to visit the scene of crime soon.
“Hon Namuganza has directed an investigation into the matter and she had even asked me to mobilise for her coming today, Tuesday, but she has not come, but we expect her any time,” Mr Ssekasamba said.
One person was shot dead and another admitted at Mulago National Referral Hospital with broken legs following a fight over land in Kira on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Mr Erasmus Twaruhukwa, the police director in charge of human rights and legal services at police headquarters Naguru, has directed all the warring parties not to step at the disputed land until further notice.
Land wrangles are astonishingly common in Uganda today. Recent studies show that disputes over customary land – which accounts for 80 percent of the country and nearly all land in Northern Uganda – are on the rise, especially in the wake of recent development schemes and returns from displacement. With agriculture accounting for 82 percent of the country’s labour force and nearly a quarter of its Gross Domestic Product, the prevalence of these disputes threatens Uganda’s social stability and economic development.
