84-year-old quizzed over evictions
Kampala. The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters yesterday quizzed an 84-year-old businessman in connection with demolition of property and forceful eviction of hundreds of families from a 488-acre piece of land in Nama Sub-county, Mukono District.
Mr Israel Dick Kyamuwangire Banoba, a resident of Mulago in Kawempe Division, Kampala, was quizzed on how he acquired a land title on top of an already existing one in the names of Ham Mukasa.
Documents presented before the land probe show that the Mukasa title was issued in 1914 for land at Lwanyonyi and that part of the said land had been leased to Capt George Hilman but Mr Banoba said he is not aware of it.
“I heard of Ham Mukasa as an important person; a county chief, who had chunks of land in Kyaggwe,” said Mr Banoba, adding that he saw his land title after the release of Dr Emmanuel Lumu, a former minister in the Obote government.
Contradictions
When tasked to present a purchase agreement, he insisted that sales agreements are a new phenomenon, less than 20 years old.
However, Commissioner Robert Sebunya described Mr Banoba’s testimony as mere lies, arguing that previously, sale agreements were highly respected to avoid fraud.
The Commission observed that Mr Banoba was presenting falsehoods on issues to do with acquisition of a title because Dr Lumu was in detention at the time.
Mr Banoba gave contradicting evidence on the dates of purchase and how he got registered onto the disputed title.
He testified that he was an employee in the defunct Uganda Electricity Board but he did not make any written agreement when he paid the money.
Documents before the land probe show that Dr Lumu’s names were registered on to the land in 1966 from Ham Mukasa, the original owner, but died in 1950s yet no administrator had been appointed.
However, Mr Banoba said he was unable to respond to the query.
Tasked to explain how he got his signature as a proprietor instead of Dr Lumu, Mr Banoba instead but referred the land inquiry to the lands officials.
