By City Post TV
The Police in Mbale City have clashed with the authorities of Mbale Industrial Division over a piece of land. Police claim ownership of the disputed land measuring half an acre accusing the Mbale Industrial Division officials of occupying it illegally.
The land in question is located opposite the old Mbale district offices near the Inzu ya Masaba Cultural Institution in Malukhu Ward. It is currently hosting casual labourers of the Mbale district Local Government and a few tenants.
On Monday, the Police led by Denis Pahani, the Industrial Division Police Commander stormed the land with the aim of taking it over from the district.
The residents residing on the land were allegedly evicted by the police, an exercise which left some of them arrested.
However, the move did not go well with the Mbale district vice chairperson Tony Wamakale who intervened.
The two leaders, Wamakale and the DPC Pahani, exchanged words accusing each other of grabbing the land.
According to Pahani, they intend to evict all people who have occupied the land illegally and reclaim it.
“This land belongs to the Police but through unclear circumstances, the district officials took it and ended up renting it to the people we don’t know. The houses on it used to house police officers,” Pahani said.
He said the operation ended with three suspects who were arrested and police are going to investigate them on how they ended up on the land in question.
The Police spokesperson for Elgon Region, Rogers Taitika said this land and buildings belong to Police and that it’s the reason they are trying to evict the illegal tenants on it so that they can reclaim its possession.
Wamakale said the land title for this land is for Mbale district but not police. He said also the structures on it belonged to Rural Water and Sanitation Project (RUWASA) though Police is trying to illegally take them.
“We are going to sue the DPC Pahani for trying to evict the district staff from the land which belongs to us (the district). I also want him to explain why he beat up our staff and other people on the land without any crime they committed,” he noted.
Wamakale said the DPC also carried out an eviction without a court order which granted him to do so.
According to Wamakale, police officers started residing in these structures in the 1990s when the district hired policemen as enforcement to collect the graduated tax but when it was abolished in 2001, the policemen ceased residing there.
“Though they were residing in these structures, they did not belong to the Police. Police also have no land in this place because even the land title is under the confines of the district.
The tenants which the Police want to evict say they started residing on this land in 1987 and since then, they have been paying their rental fees to the district.