Luwero District has lost large tracts of public land to encroachment and alleged land grabbing, leaving several government institutions with limited or no space for future expansion. Among the affected public facilities are Luwero Hospital, Kasana Playground, health centres, schools and sub-county headquarters.
The district acquired some of the land from the Buganda Kingdom, through donations from individuals and allocations by the Uganda Land Commission. However, several pieces of public land have since been encroached upon, while others were allegedly sold, leaving government facilities struggling to secure land for expansion.
The latest case involves 62 acres of public land in Mazzi Village, near Kamira Sub-county headquarters, which has been heavily encroached upon, complicating plans to redevelop the land. Luwero District had proposed establishing a skilling hub for young people on the land but discovered that a large portion of it had already been encroached upon.
Another case involves seven acres of land that originally belonged to Bamunanika Health Centre. The health centre is now left with about two acres after portions of the land were allegedly encroached upon and others sold. Tony Lubinga, the Luwero District Councillor for Bamunanika Sub-county, said the land was allegedly sold in connivance with some technical staff and Buganda Kingdom chiefs.
He said the development has left the health centre with limited space for expansion, including plans to upgrade it to a Health Centre IV. Lubinga said they have already alerted the Resident District Commissioner and are seeking investigations into the matter and the eviction of encroachers from the health centre land.
Paul Mubiru, the District Councillor for Luwero Town Council, said some people who encroached on land belonging to Luwero Hospital have gone as far as acquiring land titles. Mubiru said continued encroachment has made it difficult for public health facilities such as Luwero Hospital to acquire additional land needed to expand their services.
Mariam Nalubega Sseguya, the Luwero Resident District Commissioner, said public land had been vulnerable to encroachment in the past due to what she described as poor leadership and inadequate vigilance. Nalubega said authorities have, however, intervened in some cases, including the dispute involving Bamunanika Health Centre, where negotiations have been held with some encroachers to encourage them to vacate the land voluntarily.
Erastus Kibirango, the Luwero District LC5 Chairman, said public land had been targeted partly because some of it had been gazetted but had not been surveyed or processed for land titles. Kibirango said some technical staff, including some who have since retired, allegedly sold portions of the land, while others settled on it.He said the district has since embarked on processing land titles for all government land in an effort to protect it from further encroachment. However, Kibirango said the district has already run out of free land for future government projects and may now have to purchase land from private owners whenever opportunities arise.
Regulation 58(4) of the Local Government Finance and Accounting Regulations, 2007 requires local government properties and assets to be properly registered, titled, and valued. However, it recently emerged during a Local Government Public Accounts Committee hearing that Luwero District authorities do not know the exact size of land owned by the district after failing to engage the Government Land Valuer to conduct a comprehensive valuation and assessment of the properties.
The encroachment of public land comes at a time when several residents in Luwero are also involved in disputes over privately owned Mailo and freehold land, among other land tenure arrangements. According to the 2025 crime report, Luwero recorded 121 cases of criminal trespass and 153 cases of malicious damage, placing the district among those that recorded a high number of such cases during the year-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
