Lands Minister Hon Judith Nabakooba has with immediate effect suspended the Lira District Land Board and called for investigations into alleged corruption and influence peddling . Nabakooba has vowed to clean -up the ministry which has been dogged cases of land grabbing , corruption and general mismanagement .
This publication has seen a letter dated February 4, 2022, addressed to the Lira Chief Administrative Officer and LCV Chairman in which Nabakooba said that she had received numerous complaints of misconduct involving corruption and influence peddling against the members of the Lira District Land Board.
She said the nature of the allegations translates to questions of moral turpitude against officials serving on the board where she is the approving officer of such appointments.
“The purpose of this letter is to suspend the officials of the board to pave the way for investigations into the allegations and new members to be nominated for appointment with my approval,” Nabakooba’s letter reads in parts.
“I have asked the Minister of State for Lands to guide the district and the city on the effective process of nominating new members on the District Land Board within a month,” she wrote.
It’s alleged that the notorious Lira District land Board has been carrying out illegal land transactions as Lira prepared to assume the city status . Some of the board members have been accused of forging documents and disposing of people’s land without the owners’ knowledge.
A concerned citizen Mr. Anthony Ojuka on January 19, 2022 wrote to the Permanent Secretary of the Lands Ministry and complained about the poor management of the Lira Ministry Zonal Office headed by , Mr. Francis Ateng.
Mr. Ojuka reported how Ateng had allegedly become a land broker, conniving with officials in local government to illegally process land titles of government land and disposing it off without the authority of the district leadership .
Minister Nabakooba is moving fast -to restore sanity at the Land ministry by arresting and prosecuting corrupt government officers especially in the Zonal Land offices across the country .
