By Caroline Kirabo
The State House has outlined the duties of the Presidential Taskforce on Land Matters for allegedly going beyond its limits in its work and interfering in matters not its own.
President Museveni appointed Brig. Gen. Moses Lukyamuzi to head the taskforce and set it up again because of the ongoing land scams across the country.
It should be noted that this task force was initially suspended by President Museveni after people complained that it was asking them for money to deal with their issues and colluding with the rich to oppress the poor and not get justice.
According to a statement issued by the State House, this taskforce, under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Lukyamuzi, has responsibilities for the prevention of encroachments on wetlands, forests, and riverbanks, swift security responses in cases of land grabbing, and handling over suspects to police or military police for further investigation.
The State House says that Brig. Gen. Lukyamuzi’s commission has no authority to investigate land matters or arrest or prosecute suspected land grabbers.
The State House said that power is vested in the police, the Attorney General’s Office, and the judiciary.
Even though no reason was given for why the task force’s roles were explained in the statement, sources noted that several complaints had been filed against the unit, especially on the way they were conducting their affairs.
For instance, in 2022, this task force was accused of trying to support a section of land grabbers to throw out police and court orders on a contested piece of land comprising block 185 and plot 385 located in Kito, Namugongo, Kira Municipality in Wakiso District.
The land under dispute belonged to Yusuf Ssemakula and Alice Nabitosi, but the police had been deployed on it after another group allegedly attempted to grab it.
This task force intervened and ordered the police to vacate the land even though there was a court order maintaining status quo on the land.
Brig.Gen.Lukyamuzi said he expects to speak to the media on this statement.