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The Land Division of the High Court in Kampala, through its registrar, Samuel Kagoda, has issued an interim order stopping 12 families from Kakunyu Village, Namusera Parish, Mende sub-county in Wakiso district from carrying out any activity or interfering with the suit land until August 9, 2023, when the main application will be heard.

This is after Dr Apollo Kaggwa Lutakome, who is currently admitted at Nakasero Hospital, called the Court from its annual vacation to come and hear his emergency application over the return of the said residents on the disputed land following a June 18, 2023, ministerial directive.

Being that the applicant in this case is reportedly hospitalised, his son Steven Walakira was present in court on Monday as the order was being issued.

However, the aggrieved residents have vowed to continue occupying the land on which they had returned to prepare for the planting season as some had also bought materials for the reconstruction of their houses.

According to their Lawyer, Emmanuel Kiyingi, the main application is intended to determine whether they should go ahead to cultivate the suit land for their livelihood or not.

Currently, the residents claim they are sleeping in the cold because of the temporary tent structures and their lives are being threatened.

The aggrieved residents Court talked to concerning the status of the land before taking a decision in this matter, include Mesach Ssegawa, 67; Ephrans Namuddu,45; Milly Babirye Mutyaba, 57; Paul Kimuli; Seggane, 67; Teopista Zalwango Nandawula, Siraje Sebunya, 45; Teopista Kayaga, 76; Susan Nabukalu, 60 and Josephine Wanyana. 80.

Accusations

The 75-year-old Ugandan Medical Doctor has accused junior lands minister Sam Mayanja of using his power and influence, to forcibly give away his retirement land, in Wakiso to 13 families.

Dr Apollo Mayanja alleges that on July 4, 2023, Mayanja in the company of the Wakiso district security committee, led by the Resident District Commissioner Justine Mbabazi, division Police commander Robert Katuramu and Busiro East Member of Parliament Medard Lubega Ssegoona, gleefully watched as his plantations, paddocks, animal shelters, historical vegetation and other items were all being ransacked on his land by hired goons who were armed with machetes, guns and other rudimentary weapons.

“I beheld the scene unfold in utter disbelief as people that were supposed to protect my years of honest service to the Government of Uganda participate in the theft and distraction of my hard-earned property,” Kaggwa says.

Residents pitch camp on Dr. Kaggwa's land which was later given out to the residents by Minister Sam Mayanja. (All Photos by Stuart Yiga)

He further alleges that the minister on December 14, 2022, delivered another shock to him when without offering him a fair hearing, attended a rally organised by the same fraudsters and went ahead to order his arrest, instructing the land fraudsters to take over his land in whichever way they deemed fit.

Contested Ownership

Kaggwa further alleges that over the past five years, land fraudsters have continuously attempted to steal his property by trying to convince various leaders in his community that he has no legal claim over his land.

“I painstakingly acquired the said contested land from the early 1990s to 2002 comprising of Blocks 248, Plots 9, 49, 73,75, 76 and 77 located in Wakiso district with no encumbrances and proof of ownership can be verified by the Office of the Commissioner Land Registration at MOLHUD," he adds.

At the time of purchase, he says the property had 20 squatters (Bibanja holders) all of whom were compensated and they peacefully left as agreed and proof of the relevant agreements are available for verification.

He explained that although the minister claims to have acted based on the report by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, in which 13, ‘Bibanja’ holders were listed and installed onto his land, the said people are not known to him at all.

He added that even though he tried with his family to report the destruction to Wakiso Police, they declined to take their statements saying that they had received instructions not to do so, or statements of the obvious criminal activities that had taken place.

“With that, the doors of justice were crashed and tightly locked in my face on orders ‘from above’,” he noted.

Having served the Government of Uganda for 50 years as a medical doctor, Kaggwa is currently a retired consultant physician and used to reside on his farm before he relocated to another area.

“I wonder why fabricated stories are being used about my land in order to gain deceptive sympathy from the public and political leaders thus successfully using their political platforms to steal my property!” Kaggwa lamented.

Intention for development

Kaggwa says when he purchased the property, he had plans to set up a housing estate with a community church, a hospital, three schools, a modern farm, and various recreation centres, but when he started implementing his plans, he discovered the property had been invaded and was, therefore, being used by some illegal settlers through the years.

“Upon, investigation, I discovered that a group of unknown brokers were selling ‘air’ on my land to unsuspecting citizens which prompted me to quickly engage all the unknown settlers on my property about the true ownership and also changed the approach to the developments that I planned to do,”.

Fraud cited

Kaggwa says the whole process was orchestrated and planned in collaboration with fraudsters who gathered persons with disabilities, widows, elderly persons, children and those who had been compensated over 30 years ago and had left, were set up before a clique of Wakiso leaders purposely to paint a negative impression that they had been unfairly evicted from the land which was actually not theirs.