Cattle worth sh3b stolen from Njeru govt farm

Workers of Njeru Stock Farm in Buikwe district were on Tuesday, February 18, left in shock after a group of armed people dressed in military uniforms stormed the government facility, selected the healthiest 250 head of cattle and loaded them onto trucks before driving off.

Carolyne Wabule, the manager of the farm, said the cattle taken were imported parent breeding stock from South Africa valued at sh12m, bringing the total loss to sh3b.

Wabule said the farm had 410 such breeds in stock and more than half have been taken.

Wabule disclosed that the armed men who have been frequenting the farm arrived at about 4:30pm (local time) and left at 8:00pm. The incident has left both the farm workers and agriculture ministry officials in shock.

Eyewitnesses said the men were about 30 and carried weapons including guns, machetes and big sticks. The armed men threatened to return the following morning and destroy the farm buildings.

Wabule said they were surprised to see army men and a lawyer accessing the farm by force.

“They were armed and threatened to harm our staff if they tried to stop them from taking the animals. There was little we could do.

“We just watched them taking our best animals, including what we were using as breeding stock. Some of the animals taken were being milked. We do not know where they have taken them,” Wabule said.

The ownership of the land on which Njeru Stock Farm sits is contested between the agriculture ministry and internal affairs minister Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire.

When New Vision contacted him on Wednesday, Otafiire denied any links to the raid.

“Trucks? It had nothing to do with me. There were no government cows on my land. I do not know anything about the trucks but what I know is that the owner of Plot 2, the family of the late Ham Mukasa, who were my neighbours, had not been paid by Njeru Stock Farm for the leased land. So the Mukasa family chased them away,” Otafiire said.

Internal affairs minister Kahinda Otafiire.

Asked about the lawyer who supervised the raid, Otafiire said: “Lawyers are like malayas [prostitutes]. I do not have control over them.”

Videos of the raid seen by New Vision show a lawyer (name withheld) supervising the loading of the government cattle on the trucks.

New Vision has also learnt that some of the animals that were left at the farm were cut and wounded after they strayed into a section of the land that Otafiire had fenced off.

On Wednesday, agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze said they were following up the matter but did not divulge the details.

Wabule said the men claimed Otafiire had sold the land to a foreign investor, who allegedly intends to establish a flower farm on the land.

On January 23, last year, Wabule was arrested by soldiers and detained at Njeru Police Station for criminal trespass.

Otafiire subsequently fenced off part of the farm and constructed a grazing house for goats he introduced onto the property.

Tensions escalated in the same month when unidentified individuals sprayed pesticides on the grass relied upon by the animals on the government farm. This provoked protests from local residents and leaders in Njeru.

Minister Rwamirama speaks

Last year, the animal husbandry state minister, Lt Col (rtd) Bright Rwamirama, said Otafiire had contradicted himself on how he acquired the same land.

“Initially, he claimed he had purchased the land from Christopher Lule, who controversially claimed ownership of Block 4, Plot 295, where the stock farm is located. Why is he now claiming it is Ham Mukasa who was the true owner of the land from which he had evicted us?” Rwamirama said.

He insisted that Otafiire never paid any money for the land but “was rewarded 100 acres after he controversially helped Lule to get the title.”

A copy of the August 8, 2014 sale agreement between Otafiire and Lule seen by New Vision reads: “In consideration of the financing and due diligence by the purchaser [Otafiire] in securing the certificates of title, the vendor [Lule] hereby acknowledges the same and transfers 100 acres of the said land to the purchaser.”

The clause under consideration in the sales agreement further states: “... that the purchaser shall, in consideration of the said land, further cater for and aid the facilitation and obtainment of the certificate of title.”

“That the vendor [Lule] undertakes that they shall be making periodic update on the process of securing the title that shall be verified by Ahamya Associates and Advocates before any further disbursements are made towards the securing of the title.”

The agreement, witnessed by Robert Mugumya and Morris Nuwagaba, further noted that Maj. Gen. Otafiire “shall take possession of the said land upon the vendor opening up the boundaries upon securing the said land title. The parties agree that 100 acres of the said property shall be mutated off on the windward side of the hill facing Lake Victoria. That the parties agree that Otafiire shall have the first right to choose where the said property should be mutated off.”

Rwamirama said their lease agreement on the land between the Government and the owners was entered into on November 1, 1948 and it was for 99 years. He said it will expire in 2047 and they still have 23 years running.

“Had Maj. Gen. Otafiire carried out due diligence, he would have established that the rightful proprietors on the suit land exist and have had the certificates of title to the land since time immemorial. The Government has an interest in the said land through Njeru Stock Farm, first under a sublease from Njeru town council and later as a lawful occupant and has been in physical possession of the land since 1967 to date with a running lease that expires in 2047,” Rwamirama told Cabinet.

He explained that part of land they currently occupy was registered in the name of Ham Mukasa in March 1967 under Instrument Number MKO22099.

Rwamirama said the Government leased both Plot 3 and 4.

He explained that the late Fredrick Kato Lukwajju, who claimed to be the administrator of the estate of the late Enoka Sebowa, obtained letters of administration granted by Justice Irene Mulyagonja on August 18, 2009 in Jinja.

Rwamirama said Lule and Lukwajju, through their lawyers, forged a court order purportedly signed by Justice Opio Aweri dated July 30, 2010, to the effect that the registrar of titles in Mukono cancel the names and substitute them with those of Lukwajju in Plot 4 and 3 and that of Lule in Plot 4; that the registrar of titles, Mukono cancels any leases and sub-leases that are or may be on the land comprised in Kyaggwe.

“This fraudulent order was extracted on July 30, 2010, much earlier than the actual ruling which was delivered on December 8, 2010. The fraudulent order was signed by Justice Aweri who did not hear the case. The case had been heard by Justice Joseph Mulangira. This is extreme fraud,” Rwamirama said.

The documents Rwamirama tabled indicate that they had the same registration number 52 of 2010 and the same parties as per the genuine case heard by Justice Mulangira.

He said another forged court order was extracted on August 20, 2010, purportedly signed by Justice Aweri.

Rwamirama explained that: “Otafiire claims that his interest on Plot 3 emanates from a land sale agreement dated September 14, 2014, arising from the forged letters of administration granted to Lule and Lukwajju, which made them be entered on the titles of Plot 3 and 4 as administrators of the land, consequently granting them selling powers.”

Background

Last year, the animal husbandry state minister, Lt Col (rtd) Bright Rwamirama, said Maj. Gen. Otafiire had no claim on the Njeru Stock Farm land.

Rwamirama, who was responding to Otafiire’s claim that the government farm had ceased to exist after its original owners (Ham Mukasa estate) claimed it, said the farm was here to stay.

“He [Otafiire] has no claim on the government farm. The farm is here to stay and a report by the Attorney General, which was submitted to the President in June last year, clearly detailed that he had no interest in the farm in Njeru,” Rwamirama told New Vision.