Editor
Mbarara City Council and the local police are currently grappling with lack of burial grounds.
This problem arose after the council lost possession of cemetery land in Rwobuyenje, located in the Kakiika ward within Mbarara City North Division, due to a land developer’s actions.
Gad Murungi, the Mbarara District Police Commander, recently approached the Mbarara City Council Speaker, Bonny Karutsya Tashobya, seeking assistance in addressing the challenge of where to inter six deceased individuals who are currently stored at Mbarara regional referral hospital morgue.
During a recent Council meeting held at Mbarara Council hall, Tashobya tasked Mbarara City Mayor, Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, and his executive team with the responsibility of explaining the situation regarding the city’s burial grounds as it is rapidly running out of cemetery space.
Mayor Kakyebezi confirmed the issue and explained that the Council had indeed lost land to a developer. He stated that the Council had been in legal proceedings regarding the matter but lost the case due to the lack of supporting purchase agreement documents. As a solution, they are now exploring the possibility of converting some of the available land near Mbarara city into a new cemetery.
According to a source, Mbarara Municipal Council, before becoming a city, had purportedly acquired approximately four acres of land in Rwobuyenje cell roughly 20 years ago. However, the documents related to the land were allegedly missing, and there were suspicions of misconduct involving staff within the Municipality council at the time.
The land dispute for the cemetery had been ongoing with a certain individual named Muhammad Mwerango, who reportedly purchased the land from SimbaSabana. Recently, a court ruling favored Mwerango in this dispute.
