The leader of traditional healers Sylvia Namutebi alias Maama Fiina has today lashed out to the newly installed leader of traditional healers and witch doctors, Hajat Kezia Kulanama alias Ssenga Kulanama putting her on the list of fake doctors they want to weed out of their business as they try to streamline it.

Speaking at Tavern Woods in Kabuusu, a Kampala suburb, Maama Fiina said that she is the right leader of traditional doctors and herbalists and that she doesn’t know about the self proclained leader Kezia Kulanama alias Senga Kulanama .

Minister Sarah Opendi with Maama Fiina

Kulanama was installed by Budhagali and Jumba Aligaweesa early last week and given all the powers and tasks to lead this group which some of the traditional healers led by Maama Fiina are still contesting.

“It’s good that the government has now come up with a Traditional and complementary bill to regulate all the herbalists. What we want is to have a law which will regulate all traditional doctors with the aim of removing all the fake doctors. People like Kulanama will be sorted with this bill when the president signs it. I don’t even have to talk about her,” Maama Fina said.

The state minister of health in charge of general duties Hon. Sarah Opendi who graced the function as the chief guest called upon the healers to abide by the law as they do their work. The minister says that when the bill is passed into the law, it is going to help streamline all the fake healers. However, Opendi called upon all the healers to register with their council because it will be regulating the healers.

She further cautioned them to avoid advertising themselves on televisions and radios without proper documents otherwise they will be fined twenty millions.

By Mboowa Nathan

State House boss Annet Kyakunda Atwine has been pinned for conniving with other city businessmen to evict thousands of people from land in Busukuma Sub county, Wakiso District.

Residents of Buwagga, Buso, Namulonge, Masooli and Munyonyo villages revealed that Kyakunda connived with a one Ruta Ngambwa who claims to be an elder son to president Yoweri Museveni to grab their land.

Kanakulya Kawagga told the commission of inquiry into land matters which was on a fact-finding mission in Busukuma Sub County that Atwine told them that she works in the legal department at State House. She threatened them that if they try to resist eviction, she was going to talk to the president and top judges and they will be imprisoned for life.

Kawagga told the commission that Atwine always moved in a car with government number plates guarded by armed men who beat and harassed residents who tried to resist eviction.  Kawagga added that Atwine was brought by Ruta Ngambwa, a land dealer and also the owner of prime properties limited which has offices on post house.

Kawagga told the Commission that Ruta even threatened them that he was working with State House because he was the eldest son to President Yoweri Museveni.

He added that Florence Kiconco, the legal officer in State House visited them but nothing was done to save the situation. He said that even the police land unit failed to stop Ruta’s atrocities. The then police mouthpiece Emilian Kayima once told them to go back to their land but Ruta evicted them again.

He also pinned a one Muhwezi for working with Ruta and commanding unarmed men with machetes who terrorized the community. Hajji Noordin Bayitaomu, a resident of Buso village also revealed to the commission that Ruta brought another deadly man, Adriane Muhereza, who attacked him with a group of armed men and goons carrying machetes when he was in his ‘kibanja’ digging with his family members.

Locals testifying before the land probe

He said that when they saw the men coming with Muhereza, who was pointing a gun at him, they decided to run and entered into his super custom car and drove off.

Muhereza and his men chased them and caught their vehicle in Dungu. They started beating them including his old mother who was in the vehicle. He warned him never come back to his ‘kibanja’ otherwise if he does, he was very determined to kill him and his family.  Kawagga told the commission that his grandfather Joseph Katerega Kawagga was the owner of the mailo land which Ruta and Atwine grabbed.

He said that Ruta even fooled some of their family members and signed for him transfer forms and grabbed their land titles. 90-year-old Margaret Nasubuga testified that Ruta fooled her and her son Johnson Kimera, daughter Gertrude Nakimbugwe and he grabbed their land.

She said that they met Ruta at his office at Post house and they agreed to sell him 30 acres of land. She said that Ruta was supposed to pay them shs350m and also get for them a land title for the remaining 5 acres of land which they planned to use as family land and burial grounds. She said that Ruta only gave them shs10m which they used to pay school fees.

She said that Ruta later connived with judicial officers and officials from the office of the Administrator General to forge documents which he used to fraudulently grab their land. She added that when Ruta obtained the said land title, he started evicting them from their land. She had to run and seek refuge at her brothers’ home in Mityana where she has been hiding since 2014.

Justice Catherine Bamugemereire who led the commission advised Ruta that she will notallow him to take land belonging to locals by force. She said that Ruta must first get the consent of the Community.

She also ordered the arrest of two men who residents pinned as being the leaders of the goons that harass them.  Bamugemereire ordered Ruta to bring to the Commission all the land titles he has for the four villages. He was also ordered to bring the list of people and receipts he used to pay the locals.

Bamugemereire said that the commission is going to do undercover investigations on whether Atwine and Ruta are State House workers.

MP Sebunya Warns On Revolution If Westerners Don’t Stop Evicting Baganda

Nansana Municipality Member of Parliament Robert Ssebunya used this opportunity to warn government to react very fast on the frequently land evictions especially in Buganda. He said that the people of Buganda are angry because of the evictions and to make matters worse, the so-called tycoons who are evicting them are coming from Western Uganda. He said that such acts will create another revolution like the 1986 revolution that brought Museveni into power.

He told the commission that for the ten years he has represented his people as MP, most of the people who have evicted his voters are from west. He wondered where the people evicting his voters illegally get the huge amounts of money which other Ugandans don’t have.

Sebunya was supported by Commissioner Fredrick Ruhindi who put Ruta on spot to explain where he got the money, he used to evict people. Ruhindi asked Ruta to tell the commission whether people in their 30’s have an association which facilitates the evictions of people from their land.  The commission is still investigating the matter.

By Jamil Lutakome

Telecom Giants MTN have confirmed that their CEO Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte has been deported from Uganda.
In a statement issued by MTN Group Corporate Affairs, MTN says that, “MTN confirms that Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte, the CEO of MTN Uganda has been deported from Uganda. MTN has not been notified of the grounds for the deportation and is working hard to establish precise reasons for the deportation.”
“We are understandably concerned about these developments and are engaging with the authorities to seek understanding that would lead us to resolving this matter.
To ensure business continuity, we have appointed Mr. Gordian Kyomukama, currently Chief Technology Officer, as Acting Chief Executive. Our focus continues to be on delivering the best quality products and services to our customers,” the statement further reads.

Mr. Gordian Kyomukama

Yesterday, Mr. Vanhelleputte was kicked out of Uganda back to Belgium after security forces got information that he was involved in subversive activities that were threatening the country’s security.
Mr. Vanhellputte’s deportation comes on the heels of deportation of three of his staff. Three weeks ago, MTN Uganda’s general manager for mobile money Elsa Mussolini, an Italian citizen, marketing chief Olivier Prentout, a French national, and Annie Bilenge-Tabura, a Rwandan who was head of sales and distribution were deported. Ugandan authorities accused them of using their positions to “compromise national security.