By Ben Musanje
A decade-old land dispute involving St Joseph’s Aid Society Kigando and businessman Hassan Saidi Nsubuga Bulwadda has resurfaced amid claims of contested ownership, alleged trespass, destruction of trees and repeated interventions by government and police authorities.
The dispute, which was first reported about by Kabaka’s CBS radio via its very investigative weekly Ssekanyolya segment which focusses on land-related injustices, centres on land in Kalamba-Kiganda Sub-county, Mubende District, particularly property identified in the documents as Block 438, including Plots 36, 37, 139, 140 and 141.
It’s something State House too has had to investigate at some point through the President’s Special Assistant on anti-corruption Rebecca Atwine, a lawyer with offices in Naguru. She is the one who replaced Susan Kasingye. Atwine has made several locus visits during which she clashed with a group of local leaders and councilors purporting to be Bulwadda’s representatives.
Documents seen by this news website show that on 15 April 2015, St Joseph’s Aid Society entered into an agreement to sell land to Bulwadda. The agreement identifies approximately 130 acres and records a total purchase price of Shs240.5 million with each acre going at Shs1.85 as of that time. The documents indicate that Shs1 million was initially paid, with the balance stated as outstanding.
A subsequent letter dated 19 May 2015, signed by Sister M. Richard Nayiga (a nun of the Catholic Church) on behalf of St Joseph’s Aid Society, sought a court order to open boundaries on Block 438. The society said the land included Plot 139 in the names of Mark Namungo and Plot 140 belonging to the society, and sought to excise 120 acres from Plot 140.
The letter warned that opening the boundaries was necessary to prevent disputes with neighboring residents and local authorities.
What began as a land transaction later developed into a criminal complaint.
A police document dated 15 July 2019 identifies a case registered as KIG/CRB/538/2015, concerning allegations of land hijacking and criminal trespass against Bulwadda. Police sought his arrest and forwarded to Mubende Police Station to assist investigations.
Another investigation document refers to allegations that trees were cut or destroyed on land identified as Freehold Register Volume HQT 184, Folio 3, Block 438, Plots 36 and 37.
The District CID Officer asked the Mubende Forest Officer to inspect the site, establish the type and number of trees allegedly destroyed and assess their value.
The records provided include professional valuations for trees allegedly destroyed on two plots.
For Plot 36, a valuation report dated October 2015 placed the value of destroyed eucalyptus and umbrella trees at approximately Shs1.003 billion.
For Plot 141, a separate valuation dated May 2018 placed the value of destroyed trees, including mvule and other species, at Shs660.8 million.
An updated calculation prepared in September 2024, using a 24 per cent annual compound-interest assumption, put the claimed compensation for the two plots at approximately Shs11.16 billion.
The calculation itself states that the figure does not include compensation for alleged psychological suffering or the value that may have been lost because some trees were allegedly destroyed before reaching full maturity.
These figures are claims contained in the documents supplied, rather than a court-established award. The dispute also reached the Office of the President whose Rebecca Atwine, who serves as the Special Presidential Assistant on anti-corruption, took it up and even drove to the locus in Mubende.
In a letter dated 5 June 2017, the Principal Private Secretary to President Yoweri Museveni invited Bulwadda to a meeting concerning a complaint by St Joseph’s Aid Society over land in Mubende.
The letter said an earlier meeting had failed to take place after Bulwadda did not attend and set another meeting for 13 June 2017. The PPS’s communication was copied to the Mubende Resident District Commissioner, the District Police Commander, prominent Kampala-based law firm of Luzige & Company Advocates, a local council chairperson and Sister Nayiga.
Separately, the Criminal Investigations Directorate’s Land Protection Police Unit wrote to the Officer in Charge of CID at Mubende in August 2017 seeking the relevant case file after receiving a complaint concerning Mubende CRB 538/2015.
The State House involvement was also reflected in a later visit to the disputed location by Special Presidential Advisor (SPA) on Anti-Corruption Rebecca Atwine. In a State House video documenting the locus visit, Atwine is seen at the site confronting local leaders, including the Area Councilor and the Gombolola Internal Security Officer (GISO), over claims surrounding ownership of the land.
During the interaction, the local leaders appeared to defend Hajji Bulwadda, saying that he had legally acquired the land and that full documentation supporting his ownership was available. However, the leaders did not produce the documents during the exchange. Atwine pushed them to substantiate their claims and cautioned them against providing or relying on misleading information, insisting that the allegations concerning ownership should be supported by evidence.
Taken together, the documents and the video portray a dispute that moved beyond a private disagreement and into the orbit of police investigations, local authorities and presidential offices.
The historical dispute, coming up at a time when another controversial Kampala tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba had just concluded his appearance where he told COSASE MPs that the land comprised of City Square is legally his, has acquired renewed public interest because Bulwadda has recently appeared in another major land-related controversy in Kampala.
In August 2026, Bulwadda wrote to President Museveni proposing the redevelopment of two acres of Constitution Square/City Square into an eco-friendly commercial complex containing a hotel and shopping facilities.
On August 30, 2026, Museveni directed Kampala Minister Minsa Kabanda to study the proposal in consultation with KCCA and report back. The President’s letter did not itself transfer the land, according to a subsequent clarification from State House.
Minsa Kabanda has since gone ahead to constitute fellow Ministers (Sam Mayanja the AG, Judith Nabakooba for Lands, Milly Babalanda for Presidency, Susan Nakawuki for Tourism & Juma Kisekka Witonze for Internal Affairs) into a committee to occasion technical scrutiny into Bulwadda’s proposal before writing back to the President advising on the viability or feasibility of the same.
The proposed redevelopment has nevertheless generated strong opposition from Kampala Lord Mayor Ronald Balimwezo, a group of senior lawyers and others, who argue that City Square is public land and should remain an open green space for the city dwellers’ recreation. The Daily Monitor reported that the site had been designated a protected historical and monumental site in 2007 and that Balimwezo cited the KCCA Act and the Constitution in arguing for its protection.
The Mubende records leave several questions that would require examination of the original land registry files, sale agreements, court proceedings and subsequent decisions before definitive conclusions can be drawn.
Among them are whether the 2015 sale agreement was fully completed and the stated balance of the purchase price paid; what precise acreage and plots were ultimately transferred to Bulwadda who is faulted for never completing the full contract purchase price; whether the proposed mutation of the additional 120 acres was completed; who held registered title to the disputed plots at the time the trees were allegedly cut; whether any court subsequently determined ownership, possession or liability for the trees; what became of the police investigations under CRB 538/2015; whether the tree valuations were challenged or subjected to judicial scrutiny; and whether any compensation was ultimately paid.
For now, the documentary trail presents a long-running and contested land dispute, not a final judicial finding against any party.
What makes the case particularly significant is the paper trail: a 2015 land transaction, subsequent boundary concerns, allegations of trespass and tree destruction, police investigations, presidential-office correspondence, a visit to the disputed site by a Special Presidential Advisor on Anti-Corruption and, years later, the renewed public scrutiny of the same businessman in another contentious land-development proposal.
The central issue remains one that only the relevant land records, investigation files and courts can conclusively settle: who legally owned and controlled the disputed Mubende land, and what obligations arose from the 2015 transaction? (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
