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Court has scheduled May 15, 2024, as the date for the judgment in a case where Andrew Muyonga Mubiru seeks to cancel the certificates of titles for 13 investors in Namanve Industrial Park.

The date was set by Justice David Matovu of the Mukono High Court on Monday. He ordered the parties to file written submissions, from which he will derive his ruling.

“File written submissions as per issues agreed in the joint scheduling memorandum and I will deliver judgement on May 15, 2024,” Matovu said. 

Mubiru, who was not present in court, was represented by lawyer Francis Ssebowa.

The petitioner wants the titles cancelled, claiming that they were issued illegally by the Government through the Commissioner of Land Registration.

The freehold certificates of titles in question are on land comprised in Kyaggwe Block 113 Plots 1447, 1278, 1455, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1505, 1453, 1631, 1633, 1256, 394, 391, 396, 395, 2559, 2560 and 1448, land at Nantabulirirwa in Mukono district.

Last year, Mubiru dragged to court the National Forestry Authority (NFA), National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), Commissioner of Land Registration and the Attorney General, who is the principal legal adviser of Government.

The investors sued include Patel Hirji Sureshkumar, Luo Xiao Ming, Kanji Lalji Hirani, Mul-Kin Enterprises Limited, Tenghui Industrial Co-SMC Limited, Liberty ICD Limited, Narendrakumar Vithalbhai Patel, Joseph Emoit, Gerald Godfrey Ssambwa, Firoz Rajabali, Jamani Shaahid Ramzan Ali and Redcorr Uganda Limited.

Mubiru claims that NFA, NEMA, Commissioner of Land Registration and the Government failed in their statutory duties to protect and preserve natural resources entrusted to them.

He seeks cancellation of titles on grounds of enforcement of his human right to a clean and healthy environment and preservation of natural resources/protected areas, in accordance with the Constitution.

The respondents, however, argue that Mubiru has no locus to sue because he does not own property within Namanve Industrial Park.

The investors also state that the issues of Namanve Industrial Park have already been decided by the High Court in previous suits.

Court ruling

In 2022, Justice David Batema (now of the Iganga High Court) ruled that the certificates of titles for plots of land in Namanve Industrial Park were issued legally and prohibited the Commissioner of Land Registration from cancelling the titles.

Batema also ordered government officials to stop marking and managing land in compartments, saying they are not recognized legally but only for administrative purposes, as this cannot be captured on the existing official computerized land management and registration systems.

The court ruled that land measuring approximately 900 acres no longer forms part of Namanve Forest Reserve. 

The ruling renders of no value the letter NFA addressed to Mubiru on April 29, 2022 that indicates that the plots form part of the Namanve Central Forest Reserve and wetland.

The judgement was in respect to a court matter filed by Capital Ventures International Limited against the Commissioner of Land Registration, NFA, and the Attorney General, in 2021, over plots of land in Namanve Industrial Park.