Government through the Ministry of Water and Environment is on spot for alleged illegal procurement of a 70.2-acre land in Kihanda Sub County, Kanungu District.
It is alleged that in August 2023, the government through the Water Ministry entered into a purported land acquisition and compensation agreement with Christine Joy Tusiime for her family land at Ibarya Cell, Kanungu District.
In an October 10, 2025 petition to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Tusiime accused the Ministry of Water and Environment officials of land grabbing, abuse of office, and criminal conduct.
She alleges that the said ancestral land was under caveat and that the valuation was neither conducted, no boundary opening nor other legal procedures followed to ensure appropriate compensation and takeover.
The Ministry is jointly accused with Resident District Commissioners; Hajj Shafik Sekandi (then RDC of Kanungu, now in RDC Kisoro), Amanyire Ambrose Mwesigye (current RDC of Kanungu) and his Deputy RDC Gad Rugajju, GISO Ambrose Barigye.
Others accused are local leaders including Jessica Tindimwebwa (LC I Chairperson – Ibarya Cell), Mr Davis Asiimwe (LC III Chairperson Kihanda Sub- County), and Lemegio Tumwesigye (LC II Chairperson – Kihanda Parish).
“To our disbelief, these individuals in government offices demarcated our ancestral land into plots which they shared among themselves purposely to access and grab money through the Ministry of Water and Environment purported compensation,” reads the petition.
She also alleges that on October 3, 2025, RDC Mwesigye led a group of people to storm their ancestral home and demolished it with a toilet.
“These individuals and their counterparts from the Ministry of Water and Environment while using their government positions, have forcefully occupied and destroyed our family property, including houses, crops, and graveyards without following the due process of the law,” reads the complaint.
She alleges that the accused, without the family knowledge and consent exhumed their siblings’ bodies and took them to an unknown place in addition to colluding with land dealers to illegally take over the valuable ancestral land.
One of the documents held by the family members show that a Ministry official identified as Paul Nuwagira, a sociologist wrote on the land title showing that it was received for mutation.
“Original duplicate title received for purposes of mutation and transfer to the government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Water and Environment after consent to compensation was reached between vendors and government,” reads a note on the land title.
In a March 18, 2025 complaint to the Ministry, Tusiime indicated that she opposed and disagreed with the manner in which the purported agreement, the compensation amount considered and the payment was made.
Through her lawyers, Tusiime cited lack of capacity for her and her elder sister to deal with the land, absence of valuation report, inadequate payment, absence of boundary opening and survey process, harassment, intimidation and fraudulent conduct.
“Take notice that even as it stands now, the government has since failed to procure and provide our client a certificate of title for her new residue land where she is supposed to move her family, burial site reallocated to pursuant to the subject agreement yet the government seeks to commence the project anyways,” reads part of the complaint.
In an interview, Tusiime said that the government officials have since evicted and taken over the entire land, destroyed property and threatened violence with the help of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Ambrose Mwsesigye and his deputy together with the police.
“The dispute that forced me to flee my mother land, Uganda started in 2004 after the death of our mother, my sister (Anna) took possession of the family property and took control. The RDC then did a report and it is from then that they started targeting destroying the plantations on the land and bringing many people to cultivate on the land to defeat the interest of the rightful beneficiary,” says a tearfully speaking Tusiime.
In 2023, Tusiime fled the country and she is currently living in the United Kingdom for the safety of her life.
She states that the government cannot simply compensate her for their land and property and the ministry officials purport but rather they have to outrightly purchase the land upon following the due process of the law.
She added: “As I speak, RDC Mwesigye and his deputy Rugajju are making business on our land through charcoal burning, destroying the house and sadly when I contacted the police for help, they just kept quiet. I am humbly appealing to the President to intervene in this matter to rescue me from these notorious criminals pretending to work for the government.”
According to Tusiime, she survived death as authorities blocked her boundary opening attempt to prove that their land was parceled into small plots for fraudsters to benefit.
She accused lawyers of Mark Mwesigye advocates of perpetrating the alleged criminal acts of forgery and land grabbing at Ibarya cell, Kihanda Parish Kanungu district.
RDC Mwesigye denied any involvement in the dispute but said he held meetings on ground in their presence and I advised them to go to the administrator general’s office
According to Mwesigye, the land conflict aside, there is a government irrigation project where peoples’ land was valued under the Ministry of Water to construct a dam on their land.
He said there are a number of families affected and they were consulted in 2022 and their land was valued in 2023 and valuation reports were shared with them in 2023 including that woman and they consented and their family was paid Shs1 billion which was shared between Christine and her sister on account.
“Now the houses that have been demolished are those which are supposed to be removed for the project to begin and that woman was paid duly” he added.
When contacted on telephone, Nuwagira, a sociologist who handled the exercise said that whatever he did was on behalf of the ministry of water and environment.
He guided anyone with a complaint should file it with the ministry leadership but not to address it to him as a person.
“Whatever paper I sign, I signed it on behalf of the ministry which is a public entity not in my personal capacity. There are avenues of dealing with such matters in the ministry and they should stop discussing ministry matters with individuals” Nuwagira said
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment Dr Alfred Okot Okidi was not available for a comment despite repeated calls.
