The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party presidential candidate, Mr Yoweri Museveni, has taken a swipe at the Opposition leadership in Luweero District, linking the many land eviction cases to weak leadership while announcing a final solution to the Land Fund to pay off the landlords in 2026. Mr Museveni, who launched his 2026 presidential bid during a rally at Bukalasa Agricultural College in Luweero District yesterday, said the land issue was resolved way back when the NRM government through the Constituent Assembly (CA) stood firm on the side of the people, safeguarding the rights of the Kibanja (non titled plot of land) holder.
‘The Kibanja holder should not be evicted by the landlord. The landlord has no power to cut off any piece of land from a Kibanja holder. The landlords complain that Busuulu [annual nominal ground rent] is small, but this is about recognition as a landlord and nothing else,’ he said. When a landlord sells the land to a different person, the Kibanja holder is not affected, according to the land policy. The new buyer simply remains with a piece of paper while the Kibanja holder will remain on the land. The case of Busuulu [an annual nominal ground rent paid by a Kibanja holder] was also resolved and approved by the Lands ministry in Kampala.
”We have landlords that refuse the Busuulu, but plans are in pipeline to have the Busuulu not acknowledged by the landlord to be banked at the sub-county special account. But the long-term solution will be for the government to secure funds to pay off the landlords,” Mr Museveni said, adding: ‘The money in the Land Fund is not enough. We still have many things to do including security, roads, health care, but with the petroleum money that will start next year in 2026, we shall be able to boost the Land Fund.’
After winning the previous general election President Museveni, who addressed a retreat at Kyankwanzi Leadership Institute on April 15, 2021 promised to work with NRM legislators who are the majority in Parliament to resolve the land crisis in the country once and for all, but the issue continues to bother many Ugandans.
He also reiterated his promise to tackle theft of drugs in health centres and fight corruption. ‘ If you had elected good leaders, some of the issues like stealing of drugs could be addressed by those people. But you turned yourselves into orphans by donating the Woman MP seat to a girl called Nabukenya [Brenda], I also hear that the district chairperson and all MPs in Luweero are not NRM , this [is] suicide ,’ he said. Mr Museveni, who is seeking re-election into office for a new term (2026-2031) when Ugandans go to polls on January 12, also spoke against the continued charging learners extra fees under the government free education schemes.
Government introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme in 1997 and a decade later added Universal Secondary Education (USE), to enable primary school graduates to enrol in tuition-free secondary schools and vocational training institutions. However, despite the increased learner enrolment and the substantial investment in the education sector, there have been concerns about the high school drop-out rate, the high pupil-to-book ratio, lack of basic instructional materials, among others.
‘The extra charges are illegal and should stop. I am going to be very tough on this. They [school administrators] have been using the pretext of not having enough teachers, this issue is going to be addressed through the additional recruitment of 50,000 teachers,’ he said. For more than two decades, there has been a lack of a clear feeding programme in UPE schools, which has negatively impacted on the scheme, causing massive drop-outs and absenteeism as many pupils cannot stand the biting hunger at school. On many occasions , efforts by head teachers to have parents pay some little money to cater for their children’s lunch have been frustrated by Mr Museveni who viewed it as an extra burden to his voters . He has repeatedly threatened to arrest head teachers who pester parents to pay lunch fees.
Historical background
Luweero was the epicentre of the five-year guerrilla war that ushered Mr Museveni’s government to power in 1986 and he has always launched his campaigns in the district. The area has for three decades largely been loyal to Mr Museveni for a long time and generously contributing to his vote pool and electing ruling party representatives at various levels but residents in the area have remained poor, with some failing to enrol their children in relatively good school .
This explains why the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) in the previous general election swept most of the elective positions in Luweero District. NUP won all the parliamentary seats in the area including the district chairperson seat. NUP’s former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, also defeated Mr Museveni in the district, after garnering 103,782 votes (70.45 percent) against Museveni’s 41,166 votes (27.94 percent).
Land rights.
‘The Kibanja holder should not be evicted by the landlord. The landlord has no power to cut off any piece of land from a Kibanja holder. The landlords complain that Busuulu [annual nominal ground rent] is small, but this is about recognition as a landlord and nothing else,’- Mr Museveni, the NRM party presidential candidate for 2026 General Election
What Luweero voters want next president to address
Erasto Kibirango, the Luweero District LC5 Chairperson
”We need an affirmative action plan as the people of Luweero. It is true that the government is helping in the completion works for the Luweero Hospital 100-bed facility and the district office block but we need more in the area of budgeting and special projects.”
Alice Nalwanga Katende, Councillor for elderly at Wobulenzi
”We are talking about the government compensation of the war veterans but several of the war veterans say that they have never been compensated. The NRM Mecca has poor road network. This has partly demoralised NRM party supporters.’
Mr Sam Kigula, the Nakasongola District LC5 Chairperson
‘Government had earlier embarked on an exercise to identify areas and landlords willing to surrender land to the government for payment through the land fund but this programme has been slow. The issue of the nuclear plant should also be clearly explained to communities.”
Joseph Kawenja, resident of Makulubita Sub-county
‘Most of the roads in many rural areas are in a very poor condition. We also want the new government after the 2026 election to improve or make better supervision of the different government projects. The people messing up government projects should be arrested and removed from office.’
Hussein Kato, Councillor- Bombo Town Council
”Luweero as a region needs affirmative action in terms of projects. Our NRM leaders are not telling the real facts about the common man’s challenges including the land evictions.’
Annet Nakaggwa, Katikamu Sub-county, Luweero
‘Our roads network is very poor. At times the contractors assigned the duty of maintaining the roads do shoddy work. Many of the roads in Katikamu Sub-county are impassable.’
Rogers Sunday Bwanga, Council Speaker, Nakasongola ‘
‘The new government plan to construct a nuclear plant at Kalungi Sub-county without clear plans on how the families are likely to get displaced poses a big threat. We have one of the poorest road networks in the country.”
Abdul Nadduli, former Cabinet minister
‘We still have many cases of our people that are illegally evicted from land yet they are bonafide occupants pr