By Stephen Akabway Jr
A family in Kyengera that out of sympathy reportedly permitted a landless man to cultivate food crops on their kibanja, have for the last 28 years been ironically struggling to repossess the same from him.
Their hope of recovering the kibanja appears to be waning after the alleged squatter got money and paid the landlord who bestowed on him perpetual mailoland ownership rights over the property.
The family in turmoil belonged to the late Alikadi Sekagya formerly a resident of Wakimese zone in Kyengera Town Council in Wakiso district.
The kibanja was located on very huge land formerly owned by Stanlaus Mugwanya who was one of the three regents and Katikkiro of Buganda’s toddler King, Sir Daudi Chwa11 who ascended the throne upon his father, Danieri Bassamulekkere Mwanga11 being removed by the British colonial masters.
Mugwanya’s land stretched from Kabuusu up to Kyengera in Wakiso district and beyond. Kabuusu Village was named after Mugwanya’s heir, Mugwanya Kabuusu in honor of one of Buganda’s non-royal family biggest and legendary landlords.
Sekagya’s grandson, Richard Gitta, who is a policeman attached to the Mechanical Department of Uganda Police, is the one battling to recover the kibanja from an area land broker and businessman, Hassan Kasozi.
Gitta reportedly acquired the kibanja from his late father, Godfrey Sekagya who had inherited the same from his late father, Alikadi Sekagya, the family patriarch.
The alleged squatter, Hassan Kasozi allegedly first purchased an acre of land bordering the kibanja and surveyed off the kibanja alongside his acre of land, converting the same into mailoland property complete with perpetual proprietorship rights, putting the same out of the reach of the original owners.
To complicate matters, a High Court judge, Justice Anthony Oyuko Ojok ruled in favor of the alleged squatter, stamping his ownership with authority, much as both State House and the area Local Council had previously ruled in favor of the family that permitted the alleged squatter to cultivate the kibanja, leaving the family in total chaos and confusion.
Before Justice Ojok’s intervention, the President’s Office had handled the matter through Ssaalongo Hudson Senkaayi, a Senior Presidential Assistant of Mobilization, who on December 10,2015 issued a report in favor of Gitta.
Senkaayi wrote extensively about the Wakimese Local Council report dated November 17, 2013 which concluded that Hassan Kasozi was merely a squatter on the kibanja having been given to him by the original owner, Alikadi Sekagya to strictly use for only cultivation of food crops for his and family’s consumption.
Senkaayi’s report also dwelt at length on an investigation report dated October 12,2015 conducted by the Land Protection Unit of the Uganda Police whose conclusion was that Hassan Kasozi was a squatter on the subject kibanja and not a proprietor thereto.
The report was signed by the former commandant of the unit, Charles Mutungi while Detective Inspector Daniel Mwendo signed as the Investigating officer.
The police report also quotes extensively the area Wakimese Local Council reports that bestowed the kibanja on Gitta and dismissed Hassan Kasozi as an alleged fraudulent character.
But Hassan Kasozi has since surveyed off the kibanja in question and got a land title to it comprised in Block No.333 Plot 319 Nabbingo comprising of an acre that he purchased using his own money.
Returning to Justice Ojok’s verdict dated March 30,2021, the same was in response to an application lodged by Gitta against the ruling of Mpigi Magistrate, Robert Imalingat.
Gitta’s main bone of contention was Imalingat alleged failure to appreciate the fact that he lacked jurisdiction over the matter since the monetary value of the kibanja was above five hundred million shillings.
A professional property valuer, Dr Ochwo Ochieng Ojomoko submitted a valuation report that was dismissed by both the trial magistrate and Justice Ojok because it did not oddly specify the Block and Plot number of the subject land.
And yet the land in question was originally untitled and it was the alleged squatter who registered the same as mailoland.
Justice Ojok dismissed the valuation report as an afterthought evidence since the same had not previously been tabled before Imalingat.
More problematically, the alleged squatter has since reportedly sold off the kibanja and Shell built a petrol there station so did chicken chefs, KFC.
Keep watching this space for more developments regarding these matters. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
