A tragic incident in Mityana District has resulted in the lynching of a 55 year old man, Elijah Mugerwa, as tensions over the longstanding dispute escalated into violence.
The incident took place on September 25, 2024, in Gayaza village, located in Banda Town Council.
Mugerwa worked as a caretaker of a piece of land contested between Mengo Hospital and locals. He was attacked by a mob while he was taking casual workers to plant trees as instructed by the hospital.
The land in question involves 270 acres that have been disputed since 2002, with both locals and Mengo Hospital asserting their rights to it.
John Sendikadiwa, a local resident while speaking to journalists about the attack stated that the mob , armed with machetes and sticks, was allegedly led by the LC 1 Chairman, Martin Ntaganda. Sendikadiwa claimed that Ntaganda was the first to strike Mugerwa, accusing him of being a thief and a land grabber.
According to Sendikadiwa, local tensions have been heightened by Mengo Hospital’s actions as they started planting eucalyptus trees on the disputed land. When the locals saw Mugerwa with the workers, their anger boiled over into violence.
After the attack, the mob dumped Mugerwa’s body in a nearby pond and placed a heavy stick on it to ensure it would not float to the surface in an attempt to hide their actions.
“Many attempts by the district leaders have been made so that both parties can sit down and solve this issue calmly, but all in vain,” Sendikadiwa stated.
The authorities took Mugerwa’s body to Mityana Hospital for a postmortem examination, and investigations into the incident are ongoing.
This case highlights the rising concerns over mob justice in Mityana District, fuelled by increasing crime rates and a lack of faith in law enforcement. The situation presents challenges not only for community safety but also for human rights. Recently, on September 23,2024, in Kyansi Village, Bukomansimbi District, a young couple was brutally killed in a similar act of mob justice over family land disputes
