Security in Hoima have arrested two Uganda Peoples Defense forces-UPDF soldiers for putting Hoima Deputy Resident District Commissioner – RDC and the LC5 Chairperson at gunpoint.
The soldiers whose names have been concealed by security for fear of jeopardizing investigations are alleged to have committed the offense on Monday this week.
The incident happened in Butema village in Buhanika Sub County.
It is alleged that the Hoima LC5 Chairperson Kadir Kirungi together with the Hoima Deputy Resident District Commissioner Michael Kyakashali rushed to Butema village to intervene in a land saga between residents of Butema and John Magara, a tycoon in Hoima city over a piece of land.
The land in question measuring approximately 700 hectares is being claimed by both Magara and the more than 1,000 residents.
On the fateful day, Magara hired excavators that he deployed on the contested piece of land and started clearing the land destroying garden crops belonging to the locals. This angered the locals who accused Magara of allegedly trying to forcefully grab their ancestral land.
However, when the Hoima deputy RDC together with the LC5 Chairperson rushed there, they were immediately put at gunpoint by the soldiers before they could do anything.
The soldiers ordered the duo to immediately vacate the site or else they be killed.
Emmy Kateera Turyabagenyi, the Hoima Resident District Commissioner – RDC explains that the two soldiers who had been deployed by Magara to guard his land have been identified and arrested by security.
Agencies