The Ministry of Lands is to conduct investigations into the dubious sale of Green spaces around the country.
The move stems from a petition made by Mbale district leaders to State Minister for Lands, Alex Onzima. The leaders led by State Minister for Industries Dr. Shinyabulo Mutende petitioned Onzima to investigate the origin of illegal land titles that have been given to private developers on gazetted areas in Mbale town.
Mutende made the appeal to minister Onzima on Friday during a meeting with vendors, who are facing eviction from Mbale Main market to pave way for African Development Bank-ADB funded re-development.
Mutende informed Onzima that the vendors are resisting eviction because of past experience, where some politicians from Mbale connived with Uganda Land Commission-ULC to illegally take over public land.
Mutende was supported by Robert Wandwasi, the Mbale LC5 Vice Chairperson who informed Onzima that there is a racket of politicians in Mbale, who are terrorizing the residents by using Uganda Land Commission to illegally acquire land titles for any open space in Mbale.
Wandwasi said the fears of the vendors are genuine because of the way Uganda Land Commission has been selling public land in Mbale.
Onzima in his response said that he will ask the office of the attorney general to investigate the allocations that Uganda Land Commission has made on gazetted open spaces around the country. Onzima said he wants the attorney general to expose the people who are behind the illegal land allocations.
The minister appealed to complainants to visit the ministry of lands and make formal complaints.
Mbale has been plagued by illegal allocations of public land. The most famous is the 2008 allocation of Mbale Independence Square, which was given to private developers by the Uganda Land Commission.
The Commission also allocated to private developers the former government nursery bed.
The last green space in Mbale called ‘friends of nature’ has been fenced off to pave way for construction of a shopping mall.
Since April 2011, UPDF soldiers have been deployed at Friends of Nature, a leisure park to keep town dwellers away on the orders of the Mbale district security committee. The committee claimed in April that the place was a haven for suspected criminals and idlers.
But when the soldiers withdrew last week the area was fenced off and construction work is underway.
