Uganda Today: Otafiire, the Buikwe Land and a Marijuana Farm: A Textbook Case of NRM’s Primitive Accumulation
By Uganda Today Political Desk
One grows weary chronicling the excesses of President Museveni’s government, not because they are opaque or complex, but because they are so tediously predictable. The unfolding saga around Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, involving contested land in Buikwe District and a burgeoning marijuana farm, is not a new scandal—it is a new verse in a tired but damning ballad of power, privilege, and plunder.
At the heart of this episode lies a familiar prize: land—over 100 acres of government stock farm in Njeru, Buikwe. Otafiire, one of the so-called “historicals” of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), claims ownership of this land. He asserts that he purchased it. Yet, when summoned by Parliament in 2019 to present evidence of this transaction, he had nothing to show. In any nation that values legal procedure, this would have brought the matter to an end. But in Uganda, where power often supersedes law, the script took a different turn.
Instead of vacating the land, Otafiire has now demanded UGX 76 billion in compensation from the very state whose land he is accused of appropriating. It is a staggering move—one that underscores the audacity of an elite class that has mastered the art of converting public assets into private wealth.
But what elevates this case from a mere land grab to a textbook example of primitive accumulation is the intersection with Uganda’s nascent but highly controlled cannabis industry.
From Legislator to Beneficiary: The Marijuana Timeline
A closer look at the timeline reveals a strategic, self-serving alignment of influence, policy, and personal gain:
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The Advocate (Mid-2023): As Minister of Internal Affairs, Otafiire championed the decriminalization of marijuana for medical use. He positioned himself as a progressive policymaker, aligning Uganda with global trends in medicinal cannabis.
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The Enabler: Parliament passed the law, opening a tightly regulated and highly profitable new industry.
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The Gatekeeper (July 2025): Now Minister for Security, Otafiire was seen issuing an “experimental license” to a foreign company. It remains unclear where this licensing power originates, but in Uganda’s fluid governance environment, such ambiguities rarely hinder the powerful.
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The Beneficiary: Merely a week later, New Vision reported that Otafiire’s own farm—on the very Buikwe land in dispute—was already cultivating marijuana.
It is hard not to see this as a conflict of interest by design. Otafiire appears to have crafted the legal environment, controlled the gate through which market participants must pass, and installed himself as one of the earliest beneficiaries.
The Culture of Intimidation
Inquiries into this affair by a journalist were met not with documents, facts, or legal explanations—but with threats. Otafiire reportedly warned: “I am going to teach you a lesson you will never forget. You will face it personally.” Such rhetoric is telling. It is the language of impunity—the vocabulary of those who operate above scrutiny, and who have long mistaken public power for personal property.
Token Oversight or Internal Wrangling?
In the latest development, a junior agriculture minister is reportedly “investigating” Otafiire’s land dealings. To the uninitiated, this might suggest accountability. But seasoned observers of the NRM understand this dynamic differently. Rarely is this about justice. More often, it is a reflection of internal power struggles—elite factions wrestling for territory, influence, and spoils. It is a feud among wolves, not a reckoning with wrongdoing.
Systemic, Not Exceptional
Let no one be fooled into thinking the Otafiire case is an anomaly. It is exactly how the system was designed to work—a system that rewards loyalty with impunity, and governance with ownership. Since 1986, Uganda’s political economy has been increasingly shaped by the private accumulation of public resources, masked by legalistic justifications and silenced by threats.
The tragedy is not just in the theft. It is in the normalization of theft. The Otafiire affair may fade from headlines soon, as such stories often do, but it will have succeeded in reaffirming a grim truth: that under the NRM’s four-decade rule, corruption is not a flaw in the system—it is the system.
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