By Hannah Marion Namukasa
A long-standing land dispute in Nakaseke District’s Ngoma Sub-county has come to a dramatic resolution after former National Drug Authority (NDA) Company Secretary Robert Korutaro’s elaborate suspected land grabbing scheme was uncovered and thwarted. The conflict centers around a 493-acre parcel of ancestral land originally acquired by Auguste Mugomba between 1943 and 1945.

Following Mugomba’s death in 1976, the land was inherited by his children: Speciosa Nakayiza Musisi, Kituuka Alipo, and Ddamulira Bathromel. However, in 2006, Korutaro and his accomplices, Edward Rwabana and Geoffrey Kaggwa, attempted to fraudulently transfer the land into the name of a fictitious daughter of Mugomba, Penina Nakafeero.

The scheme was exposed when Musisi and other administrators of the land discovered the fraudulent activities and alerted authorities. They successfully placed a caveat on the land and initiated a court case in 2007 to challenge the legitimacy of Nakafeero’s claim. Investigations revealed that neither Nakafeero nor the village of Ndesebalya existed, leading to the cancellation of the land title in Korutaro’s name and its reinstatement under Mugomba’s name in 2017.

Despite these legal victories, Korutaro continued to occupy the land and was fraudulently reinstated as the title holder in 2020. The situation prompted an appeal to the Commissioner of Lands, resulting in the nullification of Korutaro’s title and reaffirmation of Mugomba’s rightful ownership.

The case attracted the attention of high-level officials, including the Minister of Lands, Judith Nabakooba, Brig. Gen. Moses Lukyamuzi of the State House Land Protection Unit, and Gertrude Nkuba. Their intervention was instrumental in addressing the land grabbing issue. However, Korutaro’s continued occupation of the land remains a significant concern.

On Tuesday, the high court judge Ketulima Elvis visited the land in question but to his surprise and others, Korutaro didn’t know the boundaries of the land, couldn’t identify or recognize his neighbors. He also couldn’t produce the land title or the person who “sold” him land.
The administrators, led by Musisi, are now seeking further legal and administrative action to evict Korutaro and secure the land for Mugomba’s heirs. The case underscores the pervasive issues of land fraud and corruption in Uganda, highlighting the need for vigilant protection of property rights.
Efforts to reach Korutaro and his associates have been unsuccessful, the family calls on the Minister of Lands and other officials to take decisive action to resolve the ongoing conflict and protect their inherited land from fraudulent claims.