By Hannah Marion Namukasa
The Entebbe High Court Circuit has conducted a site visit to a disputed 306-acre piece of land at Nakigalala in Wakiso District, where members of the family of the late Muwanga Omuweesi claim that their family home, crops and part of their graveyard were destroyed.
The visit was conducted by Assistant Registrar Rashida Butanula as part of a fact-finding mission in the protracted land dispute involving the administrators of the estate of the late Muwanga Omuweesi and Muljibhai Madhvani Group Limited.
The disputed land, located near the Entebbe Expressway and Kajjansi Interchange, comprises housing structures, crops and areas occupied and cultivated by members of the Muwanga Omuweesi family.
The family, led by its lawyer Brian Kupper Rubihayo, is locked in a long-running legal battle with Muljibhai Madhvani Group Limited over ownership of the land. The company is represented by Kampala Associated Advocates.
Assistant Registrar Rashida Butanula under the umbrella
During the site visit, Butanula interviewed several stakeholders, including local council leaders, family members residing on and cultivating part of the land, as well as representatives and managers of the Madhvani Group.
Nakigalala village chairperson Tonny Lukuyega told the court that he was aware of the Muwanga Omuweesi family and their long-standing presence on the land.
According to Lukuyega, the family lost its original home and part of its graveyard during the construction of the Entebbe Expressway near Kajjansi Interchange.
“This family lost a lot because of the construction of the Entebbe Expressway. Their house was demolished and replaced with this small one. Their graveyard was also destroyed,” Lukuyega told the court.
He further claimed that some bodies were allegedly exhumed from the graveyard at night and taken to an unknown location.
Lukuyega said the local authorities currently recognise Robert Kayongo and Benjamin Kalumba Ssebuliba as administrators of the family estate. Other family members, including their sister Alexandria Nantege, are residing on the disputed land.
Kayongo told the court that the family had been struggling over ownership of the land since 2013, accusing Madhvani Group workers of allegedly mistreating family members and destroying their crops.
He alleged that workers, whom he claimed were armed with guns and machetes, had on several occasions raided the family home, assaulted and insulted family members and destroyed crops.
“We opened a number of complaints at Kajjansi Police Station, but we have not been helped. We believe the workers are being protected because they are released and allegedly return to continue from where they stopped,” Kayongo told the court.
Madhvani Group Manager
Benjamin Kalumba Ssebuliba supported Kayongo’s account, telling the court that their great-grandfather obtained a title for the land in 1908, which was approved in 1913, and that the family had since occupied and used the land.
According to Ssebuliba, Madhvani Group initially acquired a 99-year lease for about 49 acres. He claimed that the lease later expired and that the family was surprised when, in 2008, Madhvani Group allegedly obtained a freehold title over the land, prompting the family to seek legal redress.
“This land is Private Mailo land, and we are wondering how it was turned into freehold. Various government institutions have investigated this matter, and we believe the findings support the estate of Muwanga Omuweesi,” Ssebuliba said.
He appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to intervene and address what he described as frustrations by some government officials over the family’s claim to the land.
Ssebuliba further accused Madhvani Group of allegedly frustrating efforts to challenge the disputed title through influence over government officials. These allegations have not been determined by the court.
However, Daniel Mukula, the head of the Madhvani company’s security team at the Nakigalala tea estate, denied allegations that the company’s security personnel had mistreated members of the Muwanga Omuweesi family.
Mukula said security at the estate was handled by an industrial security company and claimed that members of the family had instead been involved in encroachment on land allocated to company workers for food production.
He said this was the reason the company had reported several matters to Kajjansi Police Station.
Meanwhile, Assistant Registrar Butanula said she would deliver a ruling on applications filed by both parties concerning the maintenance of the status quo pending the final determination of the main land dispute.
The administrators of the estate of the late Muwanga Omuweesi, Benjamin Kalumba Ssebuliba and Robert Kayongo, are involved in a protracted legal battle over ownership of Block 374, measuring approximately 306 acres.
Madhvani Group Limited is accused by the family of illegally acquiring the land and fraudulently changing its tenure from Mailo to freehold in order to deprive the estate of its interest. The company disputes the family’s claims.
The company is jointly sued with its subsidiary, Kakira Sugar Works Limited, and the Commissioner for Land Registration in a case that has been before the courts since 2013.
In 2022, the Land Division of the High Court issued a temporary order restraining the agents, workers and employees of Madhvani Group Limited from claiming, selling, alienating or mortgaging the disputed land at Nakigalala, Kajjansi, in Wakiso District, pending determination of the main case.
Background
According to court documents, Kalumba and the administrators of the family estate contend that their great-grandfather, Muwanga Omuweesi, was the rightful owner of the disputed Mailo land.
They claim that the land was granted to him by the then Kabaka of Buganda, Chwa II.
The documents indicate that a title was created on October 20, 1913, and that a certificate of registration was raised and sealed as FC9662 under the British colonial administration.
The family further alleges that a freehold title was later created in 1925 in the names of Uganda Rubber and Coffee Estates Limited and Nsimbe Estates Mawokota Uganda, without indicating the termination of the original Mailo title.
The dispute remains before the courts, with both parties awaiting further proceedings and the eventual determination of ownership of the contested Nakigalala land.
