Family returns from village after Christmas, Only to find razed house.

It is reported that a group of men jumped over the perimeter wall of the house, opened the main gate and used graders to demolish the property. 

With the clock ticking to 7pm and dusk gathering on an eventless Boxing Day, the engines of two excavator roared to life. In a matter of minutes they would reduce part of a house in the upscale Kampala suburb of Ntinda to rubble.

The unidentified people behind the demolition of the property were utterly oblivious to Land minister Judith Nabakooba’s recent ban on evictions during public holidays. 

The property in question was bequeathed to Lucy Mary Orech by her husband Johnson Orech following his passing in 1995.

Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) officers said yesterday that they were not informed about the eviction and even if they were notified they wouldn’t have allowed such an act to take place because it is illegal. 

Assistant Superintendent of Police Luke Owoyesigyire, the deputy spokesman of KMP, said a criminal case of malice damage of property had been opened and they are using their CCTV cameras to trace the culprits to face justice. 

“Evelyn Atim, the daughter of late Orech, reported the case to police. She said unidentified men raided her property on Plot 106A Old Kira Road, with two graders,” Mr Owoyesigyire said, adding, “The men jumped over the perimeter wall and opened the main gate. The graders accessed the property and demolished it. She said Alex Odur, who was found at the premises was beaten by the suspects.”

On December 22, Ms Nabakooba directed that no eviction orders or executions be carried out during the festive season. Courts had earlier issued the same directives. 

Ms Atim, who was at her home in Najeera Township when the graders were ploughing into the property at Plot 106A Old Kira Road, said she got a heads up from a neighbour. Ms Atim rushed to the scene only to find that the house had been knocked down by unknown people.