President’s Office writes to lands ministry over illegal Wakiso land sale

WAKISO- The Office of the President has written to the Commissioner Land Registration in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, requesting him to halt all transactions on a piece of land allegedly illegally sold by Post Bank Uganda Limited.

It is alleged that the bank sold two plots of land located in Nakatema, Wakiso district, despite an ongoing civil suit in the High Court of Uganda.

The land, comprising Busiro Block 359 plots 2218 and 2219 at Nakatema, belongs to Richard Mwesigwa but was recently sold by the bank to Ronald Obonyo at sh51m.

In a letter dated August 21, 2025, signed by Phiona Barungi, the senior presidential assistant on special duties, and copied to the minister for the presidency and the bank, she asked the commissioner to halt any transactions on the land until the court pronounces itself on the matter.

“This office is in receipt of a complaint from Mwesigwa Richard, the registered proprietor of the above-mentioned land. He alleges that Post Bank Uganda Limited has fraudulently sold his land, yet there is an ongoing court case in the High Court of Uganda at Kampala (Commercial Division), civil suit number 401 of 2022,” the letter reads in part.

The letter was also copied to the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, the state minister for lands, and to the registrar, Wakiso  MZO (Ministry Zonal Office).

This followed Mwesigwa’s petition to President Yoweri Museveni seeking his intervention into what he termed as fraudulent acts on mortgage transactions by the bank (Post Bank Uganda Limited) following a loan acquisition in 2016.

He stated that he obtained a loan of sh272m, using the two plots as a mortgage, and claims to have cleared it. 

He, however, said he later discovered some anomalies in his account and asked the bank to correct them, but instead saw his land advertised for sale.

But still, he said he filed an injunction in the high court, and while the case was still ongoing, the bank, through bailiffs, went ahead and sold his property on April 17, 2025, without his consent.

Post Bank responds

When contacted, Shirley Hannah Birungi, the director public relations at Post Bank, confirmed that the bank had received a copy of a letter from the Office of the President.

She, however, said that the legal team, which was handling the matter, declined to give details. 

However, Mwesigwa said the Office of the President had summoned him with the bank representatives for a meeting on September 02, 2025, but that the bank did not send a representative.