EXCLUSIVE: Woman MP, Husband Named as Ghost Buyers Behind Rushebeya Market Land Fraud
RUKIGA — The mystery surrounding the fraudulent purchase of public land hosting Rushebeya market in Rukiga District has taken a dramatic turn, with the outgoing Woman Member of Parliament for Rukiga District, Caroline Kamusime Muhwezi, and her Kampala based businessman husband, Andrew Muhwezi, emerging as the ghost buyers at the centre of the controversial land deal.
In a brazen show of ownership, Andrew Muhwezi reportedly spent the Easter weekend moving from stall to stall at Rushebeya trading centre, warning market vendors and shopkeepers to immediately vacate the premises, declaring his intention to take effective possession of the land.
The move has thrown the Rushebeya business community into panic. Traders who have operated from the market for years say they received no formal notice and have nowhere to go.
Investigations have further revealed that the couple allegedly executed the scheme in collusion with local government officials, including LC3 Chairman Eddy Mugisha, LC5 Chairman Robert Kakwerere, and Rukiga District Resident District Commissioner Zadoki Kamusime raising serious questions about the depth of official complicity in the fraudulent transaction.
Perhaps most damning is the suggestion that the acquisition of the public land was not motivated purely by commercial interest but by a calculated scheme to benefit from government compensation.
Honourable Caroline Kamusime Muhwezi has on several public occasions including gatherings attended by President Yoweri Museveni petitioned for compensation over the said land.
Critics now allege that the couple deliberately acquired public land at throwaway prices specifically to position themselves to demand hefty compensation from the government, a scheme that would amount to abuse of public office and defrauding of the State.
"No reasonable person can justify losing such a prime piece of public land for peanuts," a source familiar with the transaction told this reporter. "The figures simply do not add up unless you factor in the compensation angle."
The origins of the current crisis trace back to a seemingly unrelated legal dispute. In 2015, Rwamucucu Sub County lost a civil case to a one David Gakyaro, who had successfully sued the sub county in Kabale High Court for illegally felling his trees, winning damages of eleven million shillings.
When the sub county paid only six million shillings, Gakyaro returned to court and obtained an order attaching the market land an order facilitated by the failure of former Sub County Chief Justus Ampeire and LC3 Chairperson Justus Tushabomwe to appear in court to contest the matter.
It was under cover of this court process that unidentified buyers moved to acquire the public land buyers now identified as the Muhwezi couple.
On November 8, 2017, unknown individuals began surveying the market land. Days later, inmates from Ndorwa Government Prison were deployed to demarcate and fence off the premises. Angry local residents intervened and attempted to lynch the inmates, who were hastily evacuated before the situation could deteriorate further.
In a leaked petition dated November 24, 2017, MP Kabafunzaki formally called on the Justice Bamugemereire Land Inquiry to investigate and unravel how the unidentified buyers now named as the Muhwezi couple came to acquire the land, and on what legal basis the transaction was conducted.
Despite numerous complaints from residents and the formal intervention of MP Kabafunzaki, no meaningful assistance has ever been rendered to the affected community. The anticipated government compensation never materialised. Now, with Hon. Caroline Kamusime Muhwezi having lost her bid to retain the Woman MP seat for Rukiga District, the couple appears to have resolved to take matters into their own hands moving aggressively to assert physical possession of the land before any higher authority can intervene.
Observers say the loss of political office has stripped the couple of the protective shield that public position previously afforded them, and that the current eviction push is a last ditch attempt to extract value from the scheme before their window closes entirely.
As pressure mounts, residents and civil society voices in Rukiga are directing urgent appeals to President Yoweri Museveni, the Minister of Local Government, the Inspector General of Police, and the Inspector General of Government to move swiftly and decisively to halt the planned evictions, investigate the circumstances under which public land was fraudulently transferred into private hands, and hold to account all officials elected and appointed found to have facilitated or concealed the scheme.
Residents argue that the active involvement of district-level security and political leadership in the alleged fraud makes it impossible for the matter to be resolved locally, and that only direct intervention from the highest levels of government can protect the livelihoods of the hundreds of traders and community members who depend on Rushebeya market.
