KAYUNGA.
The controversy surrounding the disputed piece of land pitting a section of Catholic Christians and Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital management has taken a new twist with the former deciding to spend night hours guarding the two-acre contested piece of land.
This comes after State Minister for Lands, Mr Sam Mayanja on Tuesday rushed to the area and declared that the disputed land belongs to Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital, not Kayunga Catholic Parish .
The land is adjacent the hospital and Christians had in 2023 started erecting a nursing school on the land . However, this prompted Kayunga District leaders to stop the project, saying the land belongs to the hospital .
Minister Mayanja says government compensated the Church to construct Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital in 1965 and it is greedy for Christians to claim ownership now .
“By the time government took over control of that land, there was no Lugazi Diocese, there was Kampala Archdiocese; it is possible that those at the Archdiocese received the compensation, if not ,let the Church inform us so that we can give them compassionate compensation ,” he says
But the Christians continue to protest the minister’s decision saying it is some form of land grabbing and vowed never to surrender the remaining two acres of land which they claim were donated to them by late Maliko Kunsa in 1924.
“ It is on this very piece of land that the first Catholic Church in the area was constructed,” Mr Ssalongo Kibirige ,the treasurer Kayunga Catholic Parish says
On Thursday , the Christians spent the night at the land and lit a bonfire .
“We are here to mourn the unfair giveaway of our land to the hospital. We are going to continue sleeping here guarding our land,” Mr Kibirige says
Mr Emmanuel Kayemba, the officer in charge of estates at the parish , vowed to mobilize all Catholics in the area to start praying at the site
But Ms Rosette Sikahwa ,the Kayunga District police commander said she will order the group to move away since the minister had instructed her to ensure that the hospital management carries out its development activities on the land without any interruptions . “Whoever has complaints should look for the minister not disrupting the ongoing activities , for us as security we are going to enforce the government position ,” she says