The raging row over the ownership and usage of the 120 acres of land belonging to the Uganda Scouts Association at Kaazi in Wakiso district has reached fever pitch.

Documents show that some of the Uganda Scouts Association leaders obtained a substitute certificate of title with the help of some officials from Uganda Land Commission (ULC), before they sub-divided and sub-leased part of the land to two companies. The companies are M/s Serena Heights Kaazi Ventures and M/s Sky and Lakes Limited.

These two companies had subsequently started parcelling out the land to private individuals for commercial and residential purposes. Records from the Uganda Registration  Services Bureau indicate that Serena Heights Kaazi Ventures was formed in 2022, while M/s Sky and Lakes Limited was incorporated in 2011.

The sub-leases to the companies were signed off by all members of the scouts’ association leadership and witnessed by officials from the national scouts’ board, except Lucy Nakyobe, who was listed as a witness, but she never signed against it.

Some of the prominent names that appear on the signed sub-leases include Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng, Patrick Barugahare Mujuni and Dr John Mugisha, who are trustees of the Uganda Scouts Association.

The leases were witnessed by Chief Scout Dr Maggie Kigozi, Richard Kamya and Lawrence Kazoya on behalf of the national scouts’ board.

The land in question is in Kyadondo block 273, Plot 5, which forms part of the 350 square miles known as Olusuku lwa Kabaka (the Kabaka’s plantation).

Last week, the head of the presidential special taskforce on lands and environment, Brig. Gen. Moses Lukyamuzi, stopped any further development on the land pending investigations.

A group of individuals had embarked on cutting down trees and grading the land, but they have since faced resistance from armed individuals.

Amid these developments, the Buganda Kingdom has also petitioned the commissioner of land registration, calling for the cancellation of all the land titles that have been acquired on the land, on grounds that they were erroneously obtained.

In a letter dated October 25, 2023, Buganda Land Board (BLB), the organisation mandated to manage Buganda Kingdom land, protested the sub-division and sub-leasing of the land by ULC without the consent of the Kabaka of Buganda, the registered proprietor of the land.

In their letter seen by New Vision, BLB argued that the terms of the lease were for the land to be exclusively used for camping purposes and that the association was prohibited from sub- dividing, sub-leasing or alienating the said land, which have been violated.

Buganda Kingdom now wants to repossess the land on grounds that the terms of ownership have illegally been changed from being a camping site to commercial and residential use.

The kingdom also condemned the issuance of titles on the land by ULC and the lands ministry when the registered proprietor (Kabaka) is not aware. BLB argued that ULC has no proprietary
interest in this land and cannot deal transact any business since its mandate on the land ceased by operation of the law in 1993.

Buganda argued that the lands ministry should never have approved the sub-dividing of the land since the mother title to this block is clearly in the names of the Kabaka of Buganda. BLB has since placed a caveat on the land.

EDUCATION MINISTRY COMMENTS 

The education ministry oversees the Uganda Scouts Association activities.

When contacted, the ministry spokesperson, Dr Dennis Mugimba, said the ministry was not aware of any sub-divisions or sub-leases on scouts’ land.

“The commissioner for physical education and sports, in whose docket scouting falls, will follow it up and brief the education minister and First Lady, Mrs Janet Museveni, about it,” Mugimba said.
Kigozi neither answered our repeated calls nor responded to our messages seeking a comment from her.

However, Bishop Onweng, who is one of the scouts’ association trustees, called on scouts to reach out to him in case they want any explanation regarding the sub-leases on the scouts land at Kaazi.

“I have not gotten any information from the scouts. Why are they complaining to journalists? Why don’t they talk to me? I do not know when the complaint started. I do not want to discuss things that I do not understand. 

Which land have I sold? Even if I sold the land, is the money with the scouts or somewhere else?”

“Let me wait and hear from them (scouts), because if they have any complaint against me, they should talk to me directly, not through journalists.

It doesn’t make any sense to me. The Bible says, if your brother has done something, go to him before you go to a third party.”

ABOUT THE LAND
The 120-acre piece of land is located 12km off Entebbe Road, on the shores of Lake Victoria. It has been home to the national scouts as a camping site since 1948 when it was given to them by Sir Edward Muteesa II.

Documents indicate that the Uganda Scouts Association secured the first lease of 49 years from Muteesa himself.

In 1967, the land was, however, placed under the management of the ULC after the then Government confiscated all Buganda Kingdom properties, following the 1966 crisis.

In 1988, ULC renewed the lease under similar terms for 99 years. However, when the Government returned the properties to Buganda Kingdom in 1993 through the Traditional Rulers (Restitution) of Assets and Property Act, the land reverted to Buganda Kingdom.

The administrators of the estate of the late Sir Daudi Chwa II (Prince Kalema Kimera and Princess Nalinya Nandaula) had laid claim to ownership of the land. In 2017, they sued the Kabaka of Buganda, BLB, the commissioner land registration and the Attorney General, seeking a declaration that they are the rightful owners of the land.

However, the Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija, in his ruling dated September 28, 2020, dismissed the case on grounds that the case was barred by the Limitation Act.
The Limitation Act provides for 12 years in which a suit concerning recovery of the land can be instituted.

The judge wondered why it took the petitioners 93 years to file the suit.

Besides the limitation period, Zeija said there was no single document adduced in court showing that the land belonged to the estate of Chwa II. Kaazi is not just a campsite, but a conservation area.

It is for this reason that the Consulate of Switzerland and African Wildlife Foundation in 2015 commissioned a team of scientists, including primatologists, botanists and ornithologists (bird experts) to conduct a study in what is left of the forest.

The group saw over 92 species of birds. Among the rare bird species sighted in the forest are the red-headed malinde and turaco, scaly francolin, pennant-winged nightjar, ovambo sparrowhawk and some migratory birds, such as the pink-backed pelican and great cormorant from Europe.

Scientists also sighted mongooses, squirrels, colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys and velvet monkeys, which Peter Apell, the programme manager of Jane Goodall Institute, said are not normally found in big sizes in small forest pockets like Kaazi. 

Kaazi, according to Wildlife Conservation Society’s Miguel Leal, is the last remnant of the Lake Victoria rainforest. The locals in Kaazi claim the forest also has small antelopes, such as the bushbucks which are hunted by the surrounding community.