Deputy Speaker tasks Nabbanja on Otafiire’s possession of govt farm

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, has directed Prime Minister Robinnah Nabbanja to address the issue of Minister of Internal Affairs Kahinda Otafiire’s possession of land on the Njeru government farm in Mukono district.

Mr. Tayebwa’s directive comes after Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda raised the matter on the floor of Parliament, expressing concern about Mr. Otafiire’s alleged high-handedness. Mr. Ssemuju claimed the Minister had the farm’s breastfeeding manager arrested for attempting to prevent the land grab.

He urged the government to stop this level of impunity by arresting those who sold the government farm to Mr. Otafire.

“If we don’t stop this level of impunity, we will wake up one day when Mr Speaker you are also taking over Parliament and you will say ‘someone has sold it to me’ because how can a government minister [Otafiire] say that  a government farm was sold to him?” Ssemujju said.

In response, the Deputy Speaker instructed Prime Minister Nabbanja to investigate the matter and report back to Parliament within two weeks. He noted that the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee had previously conducted an extensive investigation into the issue and submitted a report with recommendations, including repossessing the Njeru farm land and compensating Mr. Otafire.

Written by Prossy Kisakye