By Mulengera Reporters
In his 26th August 2024 letter, President Museveni directed the Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa to help him validate contents of a June 2022 report he had received from Kampala District Land Board (KDLB) Chairman Dr. David Balondemu regarding the ownership of Owino/St. Balikuddembe Market land.
Covering roughly 8 acres, the land referred to comprises of the stretch between Nakivubo Stadium, Nakivubo Channel and Kafumbe Mukasa Road.
Backed by rogue-minded power brokers in Kampala, who anticipated sharing billions, an elderly lady called Princess Specioza Nassuna had laid claim on the land and demanded compensation of $300m (roughly Shs1trn) so that she allows KCCA’s continued ownership of the same.
She had variously filed a total of 5 civil suits or cases in the High Court of Uganda against KCC, KCCA, Commissioner Land Registration, Kampala District Land Board and SSLOA, which united private traders who had come together to look for loan money to redevelop Owino market infrastructure. She started filing these cases from as early as 1993.
Her claim was that she had interest in the land and was actually the owner in her capacity as a beneficiary under the estate of the late Malinteni Mukasa. Mukasa had lived until the 1930s and the ownership of the land in question had, upon his death, shifted to his son Yozefu Nsubuga who fathered Nassuna.
The AG undertook investigations and contacted the Lands Ministry where records were inspected and reviewed in order to inquire into veracity of Nassuna’s claim. From the documents he examined, Kiwanuka Kiryowa established that as of 1934, Yozefu Nsubuga, as heir to Malinteni Mukasa and from Nassuna claimed to have derived ownership, was no longer in ownership of the land having lost the same to a July 1933 public auctioning exercise during which two individuals, namely Petero Wasswa and Yoanna Kasule, became the registered proprietors of the land.
On 7th March 1934, the duo transferred part of the land to the registered proprietorship of His Excellency the Governor of the Ugandan Protectorate and this transaction was well authenticated and witnessed by Ministers of the Lukiiko of Buganda Kingdom. The land subsequently got converted into freehold in favor of the Republic of Uganda. In December 1939, the duo of Petero Wasswa and Yoanna Kasule sold off and transferred the portion that had remained to the Governor still and that’s how the whole thing became public land.
Just like Dr. Balondemu had discovered and indicated in his July 2022 report to the President, Kiryowa established that this is how the same became public land vested under the names of KDLB, as the controlling authority. It was from KDLB that the same land later on became KCCA’s or it’s predecessors. That in August 1966, the titles relating to what originally existed as two pieces of land was merged to become one piece. The land became KCCA’s and it was leased to them as the registered proprietor for 99 years.
The AG Kiwanuka Kiryowa establishes that Princess Nassuna has no legitimate claim against KCCA or the GoU whatsoever, a conclusion the Balondemu-led KDLB had come to years earlier and had communicated to the President as much in their June 2022 report. Kiryowa informs the President that the Chief Government Valuer was engaged and the total value of the land was put at Shs61,656,000,000/=.
The AG disclaims in his report to the President thus: “This amount [Shs61.7bn] would be applicable if the claimant [Nassuna] had a good sustainable case on merit and if the land is unencumbered.”
KK, whose input the President had expressly sought in his 24th August 2024 letter, suggests to his Principal that an ex-gratia payment not exceeding Shs1bn can be effected in favor of Princess Specioza Nassuna.
This is being given to the very old lady merely on humanitarian grounds because her interest in the land got encumbered long time ago as the land kept changing hands several times and in the process her claim became encumbered. Dated 14th April, KK’s letter to the President was copied to the Solicitor General and a few other offices.
In an earlier letter of roughly two years ago, the President had written to the Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba and shared Dr. Balondemu’s findings while directing her to ensure the Owino land titles were all rescued from private actors and immediately passed on to KCCA.
While commending Dr. Balondemu for his patriotism, the President notified Nabakooba about officials at her Lands Ministry who were trying to frustrate the KDLB Chairman’s efforts to cancel the title relating to Owino market land which a group of private traders claimed to be having as evidence that the Owino market land was theirs and not GoU’s or KCCA’s.
He saluted Balondemu for being a loyal adherent and follower of his publicly well-stated policy on public markets having to be for poor ordinary people and not individual wealthy private traders. Museveni insisted it would be imprudent for the ownership of public markets in Kampala to be privatized because these are supposed to be working spaces for poor people in the City.
In that same letter, the big man from Rwakitura characterized Dr. Balondemu as an effective ally of his on this issue. He described him as part of the larger group that brought “all this very useful information [regarding Owino market land ownership]” to his attention.
As can be expected, this public and well-stated praise by the President won for Dr. Balondemu a lot of enemies who up to this day have never stopped working day and night to disrepute and subsequently bring him down.
By alerting the President and opening his eyes by availing him the information he had dug up using KDLB as a platform, Dr. Balondemu caused many fortune-hunters to lose out big time on the huge commissions and kickbacks they had assured themselves of getting had their plan to use old woman Nassuna to cajole and get Gen Museveni to direct the Finance Ministry to release $300m, to her as compensation for the Owino market land, succeeded. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
