By Mulengera Reporters
H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been called upon to urgently intervene in a land dispute in Buterere Village, Kibaale District, where a family claims that the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) fraudulently acquired their 2,400-acre ancestral land located on Block 175, Plot 2 for only UGX 72 million.
According to the petitioners, who are descendants of the late Yusufu Mulisamanyi, the land has been in their family since the early 1900s and was lawfully distributed among heirs after Mulisamanyi’s death in 1952.
The dispute reportedly began in 2009 when their uncle, Mr Aleni Semakula, then in his 80s, was summoned to the ULC offices in Kampala, as the holder of letters of administration for part of the estate and was allegedly pressured to sign documents in English, a language he could neither read nor understand. The family claims he was led to believe he was only selling his personal share of 620 acres for UGX 72 million.
However, they later discovered that the documents he signed transferred the entire 2,400 acres to the UCL at the same amount (equivalent to just UGX 30,000 per acre). There was reportedly no family consultation, no lawyer present, no property valuation, and no proper sales agreement.
When the family attempted to process land documents to subdivide the estate, they say they uncovered the full extent of what they describe as a fraudulent transaction, after land registry search allegedly confirmed that the entire estate had been transferred to the ULC.
Attempts to challenge the transaction in court have reportedly faced obstruction. The family says the ULC has never appeared in court to defend the transaction, while a temporary injunction issued by the High Court to stop any activity on the land has allegedly been ignored.
Instead, the family says they have faced violent eviction.
They allege that military police and UPDF soldiers were deployed to force them off the land. Homes were demolished, farms destroyed, and several family members arrested on charges of trespassing, and the land is now occupied by unknown individuals who are running beekeeping and piggery businesses on it.
The family also accuses the National Forestry Authority (NFA) of illegally planting trees and fencing off part of the land. They claim the NFA has treated the land as public forest without consulting the family or offering any compensation.
They further allege that their efforts to lodge a legal caveat on the land were frustrated by the Commissioner for Land Registration in Kibaale, who reportedly refused to register it despite the family meeting all requirements.
In the petition to the President, the family is calling for the cancellation of the title currently held by the Uganda Land Commission and the return of the entire 2,400 acres to the rightful beneficiaries. They are also asking that the alleged harassment by security forces be stopped and that all illegal occupants, including NFA, be removed from the land.
The petitioners further seek compensation for the destruction of their homes, crops, and livestock, and want an investigation into why court orders and caveats have been ignored by responsible public offices.
They insist that they have submitted complaints to several government offices, including the RDC Kibaale, the DPC, the IGG (in 2021), the UCL itself, and the Office of the Commissioner for Land in the President’s Office, but with no meaningful outcome.
The family now says they have lost confidence in the justice system and are appealing directly to the President to help resolve the matter.
“We believe the rights of ordinary Ugandans must be protected,” said Kaaya Robert and Christopher Ayesiga, who signed the petition on behalf of the affected families, adding that they are ready to provide all necessary evidence to support their claims.
The matter, initially filed in the High Court in Masindi, has since been transferred to Hoima. But the petitioners say they continue to live in uncertainty, unable to access land they have called home since time immemorial. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
