The Assistant Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Jinja district has broken down while testifying before the commission of inquiry into land matters.
On Friday,Moses Magemeso, 41, who was the former Secretary district land board for Jinja was testifying in reference to 20 acres belonging to Uganda Land Commission and leased to the National Fisheries Research Institute but was fraudulently sold to an Indian.
Mr.David Pande, senior surveyor sold the land to an Indian at shs160 million.
According to Magemeso, the then district LC5 chairman Innocent Ngobi and district land board chairman connived to process a lease title to be given to the Indian .
“One day, Ngobi, introduced Pande to me and asked him to hand over a file with an application for lease on the land,” Magemeso said.
Magemeso added that Ngobi then instructed him to have the matter scheduled on the agenda in the forthcoming meeting.
He said the district land board chairman, Alex Waibale, then called him so as to go for a fact finding mission about the said land.
The commission also heard that on advising Waibale of the illegalities they were involved in since the land belonged to Uganda Land Commission, Magemeso was simply told off as being a mere secretary whose role was to write minutes.
Witch-hunt
According to Magemeso, the LC5 chairman started witch-hunting him and eventually he was fired.
“One day I received a message on my phone from someone asking what I had done to the district chairman,” he said before breaking down.
With tears rolling down his cheeks, Magemeso said that a few days later, an advertisement was placed in the newspapers for his post.
“Even when the advertisement was placed, Waibale brought someone to sit in my office as they sent me out.”
The weeping Magemeso said he was witch-hunted for the entire time he spent as Secretary to the district land board in Jinja.