Court summons lands boss over disputed land

By Chris Kiwawulo                          

Buganda Road Court has issued criminal summons against the commissioner land registration, Sarah Basangwa Kulata, and two others over alleged fraudulent transfer of land in Wakiso district.

Pastor Deo Semakula of Holy Ghost Healing Tower Church at Maganjo along Bombo Road accuses Kulata, former Kawempe division chairman, Nasser Kibirige Takuba, and one Valentine Bayogera Kajungu of fraudulently transferring his land and subsequently cancelling his title.

The disputed land measuring 7.16 acres on plot 59 Block 107 is located at Nakyesanja-Kawanda in Nabweru sub-county.

Grade I magistrate, Simon Kintu Zirintusa, issued the summons dated April 22, 2014, requiring Kulata, Takuba and Kajungu to appear in court on May 23, 2014 to answer to charges of acting fraudulently with intent to defraud Semakula of his land.

“Should you fail to attend court on the above mentioned date, this honourable court shall issue an arrest warrant against you for your production,” the summons read in part. New Vision has learnt that the summons have since been received by Kulata’s secretary only identified as Sarah in the department of land registration. By press time, Takuba and Kajungu were yet to be served.

The criminal summons come in the wake of a High Court ruling in which Justice Eva Luswata declared that the land registrar (Kulata) can be sued as a party in the land fraud case.

Luswata’s ruling followed an objection which Kulata had raised, arguing that she cannot be sued because she acted under her authority as per the Registration of Titles Act (RTA) when she cancelled Semakula’s title.

Kulata last year defied a High Court order stopping her from tampering with the land in dispute. Whereas assistant High Court Land division registrar Alex Ajiji on September 20, 2013, issued an interim order stopping any action to be taken on the disputed land, Kulata went ahead and issued a letter cancelling Semakula’s title on the same date.