Court suspends Kawooya from Kabaka’s land

COURT | KABAKA | LAND 

MASAKA - The High Court in Masaka has suspended Anifa Kawooya, the state minister for health, from carrying out further developments on land belonging to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda. 

The order was last week issued by Lady Justice Victoria Katamba of Masaka High Court following a civil appeal filed by the Kabaka against Kawooya and Dr Elly Muhumuza, the former Ssembabule district chairperson. 

Others affected by the order arising from the civil suit include the commissioner lands registration, Ssembabule district land board and prominent elders Benon Bulora, Alfred Nabasa and Samuel Mushabe. 

The Kabaka had instituted an application against the respondents seeking a temporary injunction restraining them from creating third party interests on the land and further alienation. 

This follows an earlier decision by Julius Bulore, the Masaka High Court deputy registrar, who dismissed Kabaka’s application on grounds that it would amount to issuing an eviction order against Kawooya and others who have homes on the land. 

However, Katamba said Bulore erred in law and facts when he dismissed the application for a temporary injunction, which consequentially facilitated Kawooya and others to alter the status quo by taking possession, and constructing further, thereby rendering the main suit irrelevant. 

She said the deputy registrar based his ruling on falsehoods and adduced respondents creating an assumption that they resided on the land.

Cultural significance  

Katamba noted the fact that the land in dispute is of great cultural significance to the kingdom which, if altered, cannot be compensated in monetary terms, which, Bulore failed to appreciate in his ruling. 

She said the purpose of the temporary injunction restraining the respondents from the land is to ensure that the status quo for the properties is maintained until hearing of the main suit is completed. 

Court also noted that it was wrong for Bulore to state that the suit land is owned by the respondents, yet the subject matter is still under trial in the main suit.

Kawooya responds 

When contacted, Kawooya said she is just a mere tenant on the said land. “I have not refused to pay Obusuulu, I am just a tenant on the said land, the owner of the land with a title is Bulora,” she said. 

Bulora's say  

New Vision learnt that Bulora acquired the said land in 2006 with a certificate of title of the same land as plots 196 and 260 block 83, situated at Kabosa Byesika in Mawogola county, Ssembabule district. 

Bulora said on October 14, 2020, a group of people from unknown places forcefully took over his land and started utilising it without his consent. 

He said he later established that the local administration offi cials from Buganda kingdom, led by the Ssazza chief, Muhammad Sserwadda, were behind the move. 

Bulora, a resident of Lwemisibya village in Ssembabule, said he reported the matter, related to criminal trespass, malicious damage and theft of his properties, to Ssembabule Central Police Station. 

New Vision learnt that the disputed land was originally owned by Joseph Nsereko after getting a lease offer from Ssembabule district land board on July 29, 2006, before he sold it to Bulora, who in turn applied for a freehold land title. 

The disputed land measures about 49 acres, including Mijwala sub-county headquarters. 

The Buganda kingdom also claims to have its administrative headquarters (Embuga ye Gombolola) at the same location. 

Bulora said the said the land does not belong to the Kabaka. “My land and that of the kingdom are totally different, a boundary opening was done on the recommendation of Beti Kamya, the former lands minister, and the matter was sorted,” he said. 

He added that Kabaka’s land is on plot four, whereas his is on block 260. He also said the kingdom land is located at Lwentale and not Mijwala. 

“I am loyal to the kingdom, I cannot steal its land, we are in good books,” he said. 

On September 12, 2017, the disputed land was caveated by prince David Wasajja of Buganda kingdom on grounds that it belongs to the county (Ssazza) chief of Mijwala. 

Lack of evidence  

The Masaka lands zonal offi ce, under which the President returned the land to the Kabaka, indicated that the property in this respect is plot 4 and 157 as indicated on the retrieved certifi cates of the cadastral maps. President Yoweri Museveni returned the said properties from Ssembabule to the Kabaka in 2013. 

Bulora said Wasajja failed to adduce proof within the required 60 days pertaining the said land, a matter that was based on to lift the caveat he (Wasajja) had slapped on the land. 

He said the lands ministry, through the Masaka zonal offi ce, had updated Wasajja on the matter. 

Bulora said Buganda land board failed to provide the Police with any documented evidence to prove that the said disputed land belonged to the kingdom. 

IGG investigated the matter and found that the district land board did not follow the correct procedures in granting the lease hold that was later converted to free hold. 

A letter from Barbara Imaryo, the then secretary of Uganda Land Commission (ULC), warned the district authorities that the land was one of the properties that were returned to the kingdom and that ULC was in the process of transferring the titles to the kingdom. 

The letter, seen by New Vision, dated July 6, 2021, was addressed to the chairperson Ssembabule district land board, regarding the said land, located in Mawogola, plot 2, block 83. 

“This is to notify you that Ssembabule district land board is not the controlling authority of the said land,” Imaryo said.

 In April, a group of locals stormed the office of the Ssembabule resident district commissioner seeking redress, alleging that Bulora and others had evicted them from the land.