City businessman and property mogul Ham Kiggundu on Wednesday (September 7) protested a decision by the Commissioner of Land Registration to cancel his titles of the 140-acre property located in Kigo.

Through his lawyers, Kiggundu accused the commissioner of basing on a minority report that contradicts the findings of the Joint Survey report made by the technical team commissioned by the tribunal.

“Our attention is drawn to the decision your office issued yesterday in respect of the land where you directed the amendment of the register which affects our clients Freehold land titles. Our client is aggrieved by the above decision and it has instructed us to challenge it on grounds of evident procedural impropriety and irregularities. We observe that your decision hijacked the public hearing process which you had set UP to investigate and handle the dispute/complaint of alleged overlap of our clients' Freehold land titles on mailo land," said Kiggundu's lawyers.

The acting Commissioner of Land Registration, Baker Mugaino, on Tuesday (September 6) cancelled land titles that were issued to Kiham Enterprises Limited, a company linked to Kiggundu over the 140-acre piece of land in Kigo.

This follows a complaint by the Kabaka of Buganda over land awarded to Kiham Enterprises Limited on grounds that it was issued over already existing Mailo titles owned by the Kabaka and leasehold title issued to Pearl Development Group Limited. 
The Kabaka also complained that the titles were issued in a protected wetland (lake area) and that there was procedural irregularity in obtaining the titles.

In his ruling issued on Tuesday, Mugaino said he had based his decision on the fact that there was a title overlay against titles that were issued earlier.

“I note that the procedure of allocating the land for the freehold titles were flawed and had irregularities and the Commissioner Land Registration being the statutory custodian of the land register cannot maintain certificates of title on register where the due process of surveying, area land committee meetings involved illegalities that misled the office to issue titles,” ruled Mugaino.

He also said the disputed land is a wetland protected by law and doctrine of public trust. Mugaino said Section 91(2) gives him powers to cancel certificates where the same is issued illegally or wrongfully.

“Now, therefore, by the powers conferred upon me and under Section 91 (2) of the Land Act, having found that the certificates of titles comprised in Kyadondo Block 273 Plots 23974, 23975, 23976, 239777 subdivided from Plot 23977, subdivided from Plot 23720 were illegally issued, I hereby order that the same be cancelled and expunged from the register Block forth with,” came the decision.
Mugaino notified the parties that they had a right to appeal his decision within 60 days under Sections 91 (10) of the Land Act.

The Commissioner Land Registration then set up a technical team to provide input to the investigation of the complaint lodged by the Kabaka.

It, however, remains unclear why he took a decision that is contrary to the report from the technical team constituted by his own office.

The team found out that there was existence of both Mailo and public land on Block 273 with respective areas of approximately 10587. 021 Acres and 183.179 Acres.

The technical team led by its chairperson Dr. Ronald Ssengendo, Neutral Registered Surveyor at Makerere University, was also composed of surveyors and a cartographer from the Department of Surveys and Mapping, surveyors representing the two parties to the complaint, an environmental expert from the National Environmental management Authority and officers from the Department of Land Registration also found that Mailo and Freehold titles in the area of interest encroach onto each other.

 The technical team based its findings on the examination and critical analysis of historical maps (commonly known as cartridge maps), land tenure map, cadastral sheets, extract of coordinates from the National Land Information System and copies of certificates of title of the subject land.

All these documents were obtained from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

The committee noted that this was mainly attributable to the poor surveys that have been carried out on this particular land.  It recommended that the entire land be re-surveyed.

“Based on our findings it is clear that the land titles on Mailo land and public land in the area of interest were poorly surveyed. It is, therefore, our considered opinion that a number of plots should be resurveyed to align them to the common boundary line between public and Mailo land as determined in this report,” the team said.

Kiham Enterprises Uganda Limited was in advanced stages of building an Integrated Sports Complex called Ham Sports Club.

According to Kiggundu’s confidant, who spoke to New Vision, the sports complex was intended to identify, nurture and promote Ugandan youth talent domestically, regionally, and internationally.

This, if complete, would accommodate art football playgrounds (including two training grounds), two  Olympic-size swimming pools, a world-class gym, four basketball  courts, four tennis courts, four netball courts, all indoor games and accommodation facilities and a grade four medical health facility.

Kiggundu’s confidant said that there was need to open up an access road to the project area, and thus a request for access off Munyonyo Spur was made to Uganda National Roads Authority on November 2, 2020 and permission granted on November 23, 2020.