Buikwe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Over forty occupants of Mukono diocese land in Nakanyonyi village in Nakifuma-Naggalama town council in Mukono are demanding the ratification of their tenancy. It stems from a recent decision by the diocese to deploy a team of surveyors to demarcate the boundaries of the church land in the diocese.
The diocese plans to expand its projects in Nakanyonyi under Mukono Diocese Economic Development Programme with the aim of changing the wellbeing of Christian families. The land measuring 426acres hosts the conference center of the diocese, which was turned into a textile workshop during the Covid-19 lockdown.
It also hosts the lay leader’s bible college, elderly development initiative, cattle and piggery farms. The diocese also plans to set up a modern pork abattoir on the same land. However, over time, the church has been feuding with residents, who its claims illegally occupied the church land.
Some of the occupants have been forced to vacate the land while others claim that they inherited the land from their parents before Buganda Kingdom donated it to the church.
Isaac Mutyaba says that he purchased the land and settled there in 1976 before the church started most of its projects.
He says that when the church started expanding, he sought a platform with the church to legalize and renew his tenancy in vain.
Janet Namuswe, 75, a widow does not remember the year she settled on the contested land together with her late husband. She pleads with the church to allow her to legalize her tenancy to enable her to stay with the only community she understands.
The Mukono Diocesan Bishop, James William Ssebaggala, says that the squatters are just hesitant to vacate church land not only in Mukono diocese but also in other parts of the province. He notes that currently, the church gives out leases to institutions and individuals who can surrender back the land at the expiry of their lease where there is need and ability for the church to develop the land.
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