Land probe: Coop boss grilled over fraud scheme

KAMPALA. The Chief Executive Officer of East Mengo Cooperative Union Ltd has been quizzed by the Commission of Inquiry into land matters for alleged attempt to defraud government through double payment for land occupied by the army at Kaweweta in Ngoma, Nakaseke District.

It is alleged that Mr Joseph Mary Ssemwogerere in 2015 superintended over a transaction where the Ministry of Defence paid Shs400m for 36 square miles of land. It’s alleged he made false declarations on behalf of East Mengo Cooperative Society to acquire a special certificate of title to claim Shs3.8 billion for the same land.

It is alleged that the scheme was planned between some government officials and East Mengo Cooperatives Union to defraud government by way of double payment for the land.

Appearing before the Commission chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire last week, Mr Ssemwogerere was tasked to explain how the Cooperative Union picked interest in the land already sold and why he did not advise his employer accordingly.

In his defence, Mr Ssemwogerere feigned ignorance of how the special certificate of title was processed. He amused the Commission when he testified that he only received a telephone call from the Lands ministry and the caller told him that government was in urgent need of the Cooperative Union’s land.

“When I received a call, I informed the board members and they were very happy. They advised me to go there and when I went, the lady who was a secretary said she had received several calls regarding that title. She asked me to sign and go but it was the same land title already handed to the Ministry of Defence,” Mr Ssemwogerere said. He said he became suspicious but he took the title and gave it to the Cooperative Union’s lawyers.

He requested to testify in a closed session how the deal was hatched in order to name the persons involved. He said acquisition of the special certificate of title was an opportunity for the Cooperative Union to earn more money.

In a separate appearance, Mr Ben Turyasingura, a retired Principal Senior State Attorney in the Attorney General’s Chambers, was questioned over failure to guide government despite his two time involvement in the transaction.

Mr Turyasingura admitted that he handled the case of East Mengo Growers Cooperatives Union against the Attorney General in 1993 which led to the consent and subsequent payment of Shs400m in compensation. However he said he could not remember in 2015 when he was assigned to handle the same case.

Tasked to explain why he wrote letters to the Uganda Land Commission and other entities searching for documents about the government’s purchase of the disputed land, Mr Turyasingura testified that he was fulfilling a duty assigned to him after he failed to trace the transaction documents.

Last month, the Ministry of Defence petitioned the Commission complaining of missing certificates of titles of its land in various places.

Sitting at the National Archives and Records Centre in Kampala, the Commission is investigating the law, processes and procedures by which land is administered and registered in Uganda, the role and effectiveness of the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) in administering public land among other issues.
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