COURT | KYAGULNYI | EVICTION 

WAKISO - The National Unity Platform (NUP) president, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, is among the more than 2,000 residents of Magere in Wakiso district who face eviction after they lost a bid to block a case filed against them over a one-squire-mile (640 acres) land. 

The residents, led by Robina Matovu, had wanted a suit filed against them in 2020 by Justine Nakamatte Musisi, struck out on grounds of being bad in law and does not disclose particulars of fraud attributed to each of them. 

They had also stated that Nakamatte has no locus to administer the remaining estate of the late Edward Nsereko and Akula Ssematimba, formerly residents of Kyadondo-Magere in Wakiso district. 

Matovu and 26 others had also sought to block the suit, contending that Nakamatte did not sue persons from whom they bought their interests. 

However, in a ruling delivered on Wednesday, Justice Henry Isabirye Kaweesa dismissed the application with costs, saying it lacks merit. 

“This court does not find merit in any of the six grounds raised in this application. Therefore, court cannot base on the issues to strike out Civil Suit7/11/2020,” he ruled. 

The court ruling was delivered by deputy registrar Miriam Ayo Okello on behalf of the judge in the presence of Kato Sekabanja for the applicants and Jamil Mugarura, for the respondent. 

This means court will proceed to hear the main case filed by Nakamatte against the residents to determine the owner of the land. 

Apart from Kyagulanyi, others affected include top corporates, military officers and political leaders. 

There are also schools, religious institutions, industries, and entertainment centres on the disputed land.

Sub-division 

The plaintiff contends that between 2003 and 2009, she established that the land had been subdivided into numerous plots while in exile. 

Nakamatte purports that Yobu Wakasanke whose estate is being administered by Sulaiman Magemule, Abdul Serwanga and two others, fraudulently connived with the Commissioner Land Registration and transferred her land comprised in block 191 plot 26 which was at the time in the name of Nsereko. 

In her suit, she narrates how the disputed land was transferred and registered in each of the name of the defendants, without her consent. 

She says the acts by the defendants of having Matovu registered on plot 1 without her knowledge amounted to fraud. Nakamatte contends that her application to caveat the land to prevent it from being alienated was refused to be registered by the Commissioner Land Registration, prompting the fraudulent transfer of her land. 

“As a result of the defendants’ conduct, I have suffered a lot of inconvenience, financial loss, damages and mental anguish for which I claim general damages and mesne profits,” she states.

Declaration 

Nakamatte, therefore, seeks a declaration that she is the rightful owner of the land and that the defendants were registered on it illegally. 

She also seeks a declaration that the defendants committed fraud by registering themselves on the land and the Commissioner Land Registration also fraudulently registered the defendants on the land without genuine documents. 

Nakamatte, therefore, wants court to cancel all the land titles on the said land that she claims to have inherited from her father and grandfather.

Defendants 

The defendants who claim to be lawful occupants having stayed on the land for more than 12 years include Samuel Muyanja, Levi Mabirizi, Robert Kyagulanyi, Samuel Ssebuliba Kiyingi, Jemusi Muwumbo, Jane Kibuuka and Bashir Juma Kizito. 

Also listed as respondents are Jane Kibuuka, Willy Katantazi, Kob Mpanga, Thomas Kayongo, Dr Theoley Rutagwenda, Betty Tamale, Edward Sewanyana, John Mugerwa, Fabian Zungu, Justine Nabwami, Ronald Kitaka Mulinddwa and Dorothy Namara, among others.

Genesis of the case 

In a suit filed in the Land Division of the High Court in 2020, Nakamatte said the land belonged to her father and mother. Court documents indicate that the late Akula Ssematimba owned the entire block 191 at Magere, originally on FC 15090 and PC 4304 block 191 Pin 38, measuring a square mile. 

Upon the death of Ssematimba, his son, Musa Kilaga, succeeded him, but he later passed on, having produced Nakamatte’s father, Edward Nsereko. 

Subsequently, Nsereko shared from his grandfather’s estate land comprised in Plot 26 block 191 land at Kyadondo-Magere. “However, when Nsereko died, Nakamatte was appointed an administrator of the estate of her father and grandfather, the late Ssematimba,” the court documents read. 

Court documents indicate that before Nakamatte became the administrator for the two estates, she was exiled in Kenya around 1966, during the Kabaka crisis. 

When she returned in 2003, she was granted letters of administration for her father, Nsereko, and also for her grandfather Ssematimba, in 2009.