Rakai district council has suspended the allocation of Mutukula prison land to private developers over alleged corruption and pave way for investigations. In 2011, Ministry of Land and Urban Development allowed district council to change the use of Mutukula prison land and pave way for its redevelopment. It is alleged that top Rakai district officials demarcated the land into smaller plots and decided to share them amongst themselves without following the right procedures.
As a result, Rakai district council has cancelled the land transactions and launched investigations to establish under what circumstances the district officials acquired it without paying a single shilling to the district. Some of the implicated officials include Fred Kalyesubula, the former Rakai assistant CAO, Maria Mutagamba, the Water and Environment Minister, Bamusedde Bwambale, the Masaka Resident District Commissioner and Jamil Kyingi, the Rakai Environment Officer.
Kintu Kisekulo, the Chairperson Probe committee says that their preliminary investigations show that most of the leaders have acquired land titles for the land yet it is still registered under Rakai district. He says that they are also investigating how some businessmen and politicians acquired 700 acres of land from the Mutukula prison land without paying the shillings 500,000 commitment fee to the district.
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Benon Mugabi, the Rakai LC5 Chairman says that under normal circumstances all those who were interested in the land should have applied to the district and paid the commitment fee depending on the number of plots they wanted. He however, says that procedure was breached costing the district millions of shillings. Paul Wasswa Ssekyewa, the speaker Rakai district council says they expect the probe committee to present a report before the district council that is scheduled for August 23rd.
He says that it is from the committee findings that council will make a final decision on the matter. Jamil Kiyingi, Rakai District Environment Officer says that he paid 520,000 to district council as a commitment fee and undisclosed amount of funds to the district land board. Kiyingi has welcomed the investigations saying that he has nothing to hide since he acquired his land legally. The other implicated officials have not yet commented as they could neither pick nor return our repeated calls.
