Entebbe Municipality Manyago Residents are bitter with St. Mark Church Administration after they destroyed their crops that they planted in the church land. The Manyago residents claimed that the St. Mark Church Administration on Thursday and Friday abruptly started excavating and destroying all their crops to give way for a perimeter wall fence that is to be built soon. The residents said that St. Mark Church Administration acted very ungodly by destroying their crops without adequately communicating to them to relocate their crops to other areas.
Mr. Moska Okaka, a retired Civil servant who resides in Manyago was dismayed by the hastily taken decision to destroy their crops and called on St. Mark Church Administration to repent.
Many years ago we requested for permission from St. Mark Church to grow crops on their land which they granted us because the land was idle and bushy and was harbouring thieves and snakes. We have been growing our crops on the land but now all of a sudden they have destroyed our crops. We know the land is theirs but they should have held meetings with us so as to enable us relocate our crops to other areas in good faith. It’s a shame that the church is behaving like this “, Okaka a retired Public service civil servant and former Housing Manager Entebbe Municipal Council who suffers from a stroke told entebbenews.
Martin Byesigwa a resident in Manyago also claimed that St. Mark Church didn’t issue proper communication about the exercise.
“St. Mark Church Administration saw us planting our crops during the recent rainy season; they should have stopped us. But now all of a sudden they have come and started destroying our crops. We agree the land is theirs but they should have communicated to us about the exercise”, Byesigwa revealed.
When contacted on the matter, St. Mark Church Administration revealed that the Manyago residents were told about the excavation exercise a year ago and that they should have removed their crops earlier.
“We issued several communications in Church and on radio about the excavation exercise and we also fundraised for the perimeter wall fence. We fixed survey boundary stones demarcating off the church land while the Manyago residents were seeing. They knew very well what was bound to happen though they are just pretending that they didn’t get any communication, St. Mark Church Head of laity revealed.
However other residents have indicated that not all Manyago residents pray from St. Mark Church where the communication was issued. Some residents who pray from St. Mark Church have threatened to leave and find new churches including St. Johns after they were treated so inhumanely.
