Lands minister named in land title forgery

KAMPALA- The contest for the 306-acre piece of land that stands in the way of the construction of the Entebbe Express Highway has sucked in Lands minister Daudi Migereko, who is being accused of falsifying a land title.

Consequently, Ethics and Integrity minister Simon Lokodo said Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) should not proceed to exhume more than 150 graves on the land pending a probe into the allegations.

The ownership of the land at Kajjansi in Wakiso District has led to a tag-of-war between the administrators of the Muwanga Omuwesi family estate led by Nakawa Mayor Benjamin Kalumba and the, Madhvani Group of companies.

Fr Lokodo, in an interview said last week, said he was told by Mr Migereko that court had disposed of the case in favour of Madhvani.

“He (the minister) first dodged me every time I wrote to him asking for information regarding that dispute, but I was surprised when he told me during the tour (of the construction site), that court had disposed of the case and that UNRA was now dealing with Madhvani,” Fr Lokodo said, adding: “Now that they even started lying, UNRA should not excavate the graves before we know who the graves belong to,” Fr Lokodo told Daily Monitor.

Attempts to reach Mr Migereko were futile by press time and his aides said he was in meetings all day.

Hearing of the case between Madhvani and the administrators of the Muwanga estate is set to resume on June 6, at the High Court’s Land Division. Fr Lokodo said he was completely ignorant there is a case in court.

The Omuwesi family estate ran to the Ethics minister for intervention in the matter accusing top officials in the lands ministry of corruption and foul play including manipulation of land titles in favour of Madhvani.

UNRA’s head of corporate communications Dan Alinange said whatever the arguments, they are now dealing with Madhvani as the rightful owner of the land.

“We are going to relocate the graves by ourselves,” he said, adding: “We are also in process of completing the compensation but to Madhvani.”

The dispute

The Omuweesi family estate claim Madhvani Group had a lease of 49 acres on the land which they got in 1960.

Following the expulsion of the Asians and their subsequent return in the early 1990s Madhvani claimed his title had got lost and filed an affidavit for a new title.

The Madhvani group corporate affairs manager, K.P Eswar, says the dispute had been resolved temporarily by court after an application for an injunction against the Madhvani Group by Mr Kalumba was dismissed with costs.

He said apart from court temporarily resolving the matter, the relevant government departments, including the Ministry of Lands, had proved that the Madhvani Group owned a clean title.

Mr Eswar premised his defence on a July 26, 2013 letter by the commissioner of land registration Sarah Kulata informing Mr Kalumba and his family that their ancestor Muwanga Omuwesi had on May 19, 1915, transferred the land to his Excellency Sir Fredreck John Jackson, Governor of Uganda Protectorate at the time for the consideration of Rupees 6,127.

Muwanga Omuwesi’s title was then subsequently cancelled on May 23, 1931, according to the letter.

Ms Kulata, however, in earlier correspondences dated 2012 in response to Mr Kalumba’s request to search for their title, had first indicated there were no records in the archives regarding any freehold and mailo land titles, whatsoever, for the land issued during the last century.

In another correspondence in 2013, she, however, said the records had now been found but showing transfer of land from Omuweesi to the colonial administration. She then swiftly directed UNRA to deal with Madhvani. Attempts to reach Ms Kulata were futile by press time.

Mr Kalumba claims, Ms Kulata told him that the minister was not ready to intervene in the matter or offer him audience.

“She told me she comes from the same constituency as the minister, who studied on Madhvani’s scholarship, at one time sat of the company’s board so they could not be of any help to me. She, however, advised me to seek the Attorney General’s advice if I am interested,” Mr Kalumba said.

Ms Kulata yesterday discounted Mr Kalumba’s claims and said he should “grow up and act professionally as is expected of a mayor.”

“He came to my office armed with some old documents , and wanted clearance to receive money from UNRA, but I told him I would crosscheck the facts of the title. After searching, we retrieved a transfer form on which his ancestor was transferring ownership of his land to the colonial administration,” Ms Kulata said.

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