Mukono Residents Protest Land Allocation to American Rapper Akon

Last year, Akon and his wife Rozina Negusei traveled to Uganda and met with high-ranking government officials, including President Yoweri Museveni, with whom they discussed the possibility of investing in the country. The visitors were then taken on a tour of the country by presidential helicopter in order to determine where he would develop his city.

Akon’s grandiose plan is to create a metropolis powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency. He’s previously stated that one of his goals is to construct a real-life Wakanda, the fictional African country.

But the giveaway is likely to affect more than 1,000 residents from the villages of Bulebi, Sango, Mbazi and Lulagwe. The locals blame the Uganda Land Commission for not consulting them before giving out the land for which they are also claiming ownership.

Margret Nabbanja, a resident at Bulebi village says that although she has not received any official communication to vacate the land, she has learned about plans from the area leaders. She fears that the allocation will affect her wellbeing and her ancestry since the same land hosts her ancestral ground.

Another resident Salim Kabanda says the government has no authority to give out land that people acquired long before the NRM took over power. He wonders why the Uganda Land Commission cleared land for the investor to use without consulting senior residents and local leaders about its ownership and tenancy.

Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba says the land title received is registered under the Uganda Land Commission and that the ministry is now tasked to find out other interested parties on the land.