Bamugemereire summons Tooro Queen mother over kingdom land

KAMPALA- The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters has summoned Tooro Queen Mother Best Kemigisa in connection with accusations of grabbing property belonging to the members of the royal family in the kingdom.

“Criminal summons are issued against Best Kemigisa to appear on April 23 [this year] at 9am,” ordered Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, who chairs the seven-member Commission.

Her directive followed an application to have Ms Kemigisa summoned to appear and explain allegations that she grabbed property belonging to the Tooro royal family.

It is alleged that upon the death of former King of Tooro, Patrick Mathew Olimi Kaboyo III, in August 1995, Ms Kemigisa fraudulently acquired letters of administration with three other people which she used to administer the estate of the family.

Three complaints were filed before the Commission against Ms Kemigisha in connection with the alleged grabbing of the family property, fraudulent sale of royal property to government without authority and extra-legal evictions.

At the Commission sitting on Thursday, Prince Araali Patrick Kasagama accused Ms Kemigisa of selling hectares of their family land at Kijuma, Burasya County in Kabarole District.

Describing himself as a fifth grandchild in the lineage of the late Tooro King Kaboyo 1, Prince Kasagama said that the land in dispute is part of the 13 properties that Ms Kemigisa sold to government in 2004.

He asked the Commission to fault Ms Kemigisa for the property sale at Shs4.5 billion, without consulting the royal family.
Asked the circumstances under which government purchased the disputed land, Prince Kasagama said that the purported sale was unnecessary since there was no eminent threat to evict the occupant and that it was a double loss after the money that was paid was reportedly stolen by Ms Kemigisa’s lawyer.

He testified that the Queen Mother has since transferred land titles of the kingdom into her names in contravention of the cultural procedures.

On March 7, a group of Tooro royal family members led by Prince Gilbert Atwooki Mujogya testified that Ms Kemigisa acquired letters of administration as a sole administrator of the estate in 1999 which formed basis for the transfer of the land into her names and subsequent sale.
He also testified that Ms Kemigisa sold their property in contravention of her own declaration she made before court to properly administer and account for the estate of the deceased king.
“We approached the Queen Mother with all the facts to have the land transferred to the rightful owners but she refused all these years. Our uncle and aunt wrote to her in vain,” Mr Mujogya a retired geologist, said.

In another complaint, Tooro elders under their umbrella body, Isaazi Ly’ Abantu Bakuru Ba Tooro from Tooro led by the Fort Portal Municipality MP, Mr Alex Ruhunda, asked the Commission to halt all cases of extra-legal evictions and land grabbing.

They allege that since 2003, Ms Kemigisa aided by armed security agencies, conducted a series of land grabbing and evictions of bonafide occupants on the land and destroyed property, including houses and crops around Fort Portal Municipality in Kabarole District.

Documents presented before the Commission indicate that the late King Kaboyo acquired proprietorship of his late father George David Kamurasi's property as the heir during the political turmoil that led to abolition of monarchies in 1966.

It is alleged that Kaboyo acquired proprietorship of the property as a trustee during an emergency upon the death of their father Kamurasi. They said that Kaboyo died intestate before reverting land to its rightful owners.

The Commission heard that in 2008/2009 the Queen mother, as a registered administrator of the estate of the late king of Tooro Kingdom, sold 9,121 acres of land at Kibiito Sub-county in Kabarole District at Shs4.5 billion which was bought by government using the Land Fund.
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