By Johnson Kanyesige
Lands State Minister Dr Sam Mayanja has ordered for the cancelation of a land title which is said to have been fraudulently obtained by Williams Okony Wilberforce on a piece of land covering 700 homesteads in Kanyegaramire village, Kaseeta parish, Kabwoya sub county in Kikuube district.
The Minister heard during the meeting with locals at Kanyegaramire trading center on Wednesday that Mr Okony processed a certificate title without the knowledge of the residents in 2023 yet they have stayed on the said land in 1995.
The issues came out when government, through the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development introduced a program of giving subsidized land titles to residents in Kikuube district.
The program funded by World Bank under the Systematic Land Adjudication and Certification (SLAAC) program, targeted sub-counties including Kizirafumbi, Bugambe, Buhimba, Kyangwali, Kabwoya, and Kikuube Town Council. During the process of surveying their lands, the residents told the minister that the government surveyors discovered that they were sitting on a piece of land with a land title.
Responding to the residents’ concerns which they presented to him, Minister Sam Mayanja directed the immediate cancelation of the land title which he said had been obtained under false pretence.
The Minister also issued of a warrant of arrest of Mr Okony Wilberforce whom he said obtained the land title illegally where he said he knew what he was doing was illegal since he was a land officer with Hoima district local government at the time of processing the certificate of title.
