By Gumular Fregence
There was pandemonium on Thursday as the Minister of State for Lands, Hon Sam Mayanja ordered the arrest of businessman Davis Mugabi Safari who was implicated in land grabbing. The 62-year-old was accused of conniving with Nankunda Sharon to procure a fictitious court order, through which he demolished people’s homes. The land in question is located in the Lwengo Sub-county in the Kyankwanzi district.
During a locus visit, Minister Mayanja heard that Safari fraudulently acquired the land measuring four square miles from 94-year-old Besisuba Nanyonjo and her daughter Namatovu Florence. He, however, rushed to court where he got an order that he claimed allowed him to possess the land.
In response, Nanyonjo through her lawyers at KAA Advocates filed a court petition and a police complaint against Safari. Police upon investigating the matter, found that Safari had used fraudulent means to acquire the land.
According to the 10-page police report which was read by Counsel Jet Tumwesize, Safari filed a court case and received a judgement within 24 hours. He also had land titles changed within hours which is irregular.
Minister Mayanja in his decision said it was improper for Safari to demolish the homes of Nanyonjo’s tenants when his court order talked of repossession and not demolition.
“In law when there is a court order for repossession, all the properties and developments on the land revert to the owner,” he said. Based on the recent court decision and the police report, Minister Mayanja ordered Nanyonjo to be handed back her land. He also ordered police to arrest Safari at the scene amid celebrations from the residents.
Safari, however, denied all wrongdoing, saying he had all the titles and agreements that show that he duly bought the land from Nanyonjo. He also claimed that the demolition order was cleared by the Police Headquarters in Naguru as well as the district security committee. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).