Illegal land purchases and property ownership wrangles are central to the parliamentary campaigns in Kalungu East constituency in Kalungu district.
In each of the three sub-counties in Kalungu East, people have appealed to their parliamentary candidates to come to their aid and protect them illegal evictions. It has become common to see at least 10 families at each rally demanding for protection against an out-of-control landowner or dispossession of their property.
When President Yoweri Museveni made a campaign stop in Kalungu recently, a group of 400 people held placards calling for an end to land grabbing by powerful district officials and businessmen.
The parliamentary candidates are not above reproach.
The outgoing Masaka LC5 chairperson Vincent Ssempijja, who is contesting for the Kalungu East seat, is accused of grabbing land in Bulakati and Lukaya. 200 people are reported to be facing eviction because of this.
Nnalongo Kafeero, a trader on the Masaka-Kampala highway, claims to be among the affected families. She says Ssempijja forcefully removed her family from their land in Bukulura. She never received compensation for the two-acre banana plantation that was destroyed in the process.
The Bukulura sub-county women's councilor, Sanyu Josephine Nansamba, says Nnalongo Kafeero's story is typical of many families in the area. She explains that most people are too poor to purchase their own land. They lease the property on the understanding that any new landowner will compensate them if he or she gives insufficient time prior to eviction.
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All five Kalungu East parliamentary candidates – Umar Lule Mawiya, Vincent Ssempijja, Hannington Tamale, Dennis Mukasa Mbidde and George William Kobu – have adopted the land issue into their campaigns. They promise to prioritize the plight of landless people in the constituency.
Denis Mukasa Mbidde, the Democratic Party candidate, also accuses Vincent Ssempijja of the numerous land problems in the district. He claims that Ssempijja even evicted 20 young men from publicly owned land in Lweera on the Kampala highway.
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Hannington Tamale, the Inter Party Cooperation candidate for Kalungu East, says landlessness and evictions have affected food security. He says many subsistence farmers cannot grow food because they are uncertain of their future.
Vincent Ssempijja denies all accusations that he has participated in illegal land grabs. He says all his property in Bulakati, Lukaya and Lweera was legally purchased.
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