The ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has cancelled a land title belonging to retired Maj Gen Wilberforce Fred Mugisha and two others.
The ministry says the land in Wanembo-Boma village in Butiaba Town Council, Buliisa District was illegally acquired.
Baker Mugaino, the acting commissioner of land registration, said the decision was taken after public hearings and careful scrutiny of the available records and documents.
For years now, the locals in Butiaba and other parts of Buliisa have been embroiled in land battles with Maj Gen Mugisha and trouble reportedly started in 2003 when President Museveni requested residents to offer land for building a military barracks.
However, after offering the land, men in uniform and others partitioned the remaining plots among themselves and later, it was discovered that the oil pipeline and other infrastructural projects would pass through the contested land.
The locals accuse trio of grabbing their communal land and changing the status to freehold and eventually obtaining a land title.
Mugaino in his letter asked the trio to return the duplicate copies of the land title to the Lands ministry for onward cancellation without fail.
Denis Obbo, the lands ministry spokesperson, yesterday confirmed the cancellation.
Brian Kabayiza, the lawyer representing Maj Gen Mugisha and others, yesterday told Daily Monitor that his client had given him instructions to file an appeal at the courts.
