Court to rule on Bunyoro king, NFA case

Kampala. The High Court in Masindi District will tomorrow deliver judgment of a case in which National Forestry Authority (NFA) sued the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, Solomon Iguru Gafabusa, for alleged encroachment and degradation on Bugoma Central Forest Reserve in Hoima District.
The NFA accuses the king of fraudulent concealment when he allegedly stealthily applied for a freehold title for part of the forest which was granted by the Uganda Land Commission (ULC).
The Omukama is jointly sued with Hoima Sugar Ltd and ULC.
The forestry authority is seeking a court declaration that the king’s stay and utilisation of the forest reserve is illegal and amounts to trespass.
The land under dispute is located on Plot 216, Buhanguzi Block 2, Hoima held by Hoima Sugar Ltd.
The resident judge, Justice Albert Rugadya Atwooki, set December 18 for judgment of the case filed in 2016.
The Omukama denies the allegations.
The kingdom contends that the disputed part of the forest is an ancestral place of Kyangwali, which forms the original seat of the kingdom headquarters, and is not part of Bugoma.
“For more than 4,000 years, this land has held a cultural site used by all kings during this period for special annual cultural rituals,” Mr John Musungu, the kingdom’s surveyor, said in his affidavit.
In September 2016, government cancelled the kingdom’s land title in Bugoma Forest.
On August 23, NFA had asked the Ministry of Lands to cancel land titles issued in Bugoma Central Forest to enable them secure the integrity of natural resource.
Residents have been destroying the forest reserve purporting to be working on directives of the king to claim 8,000 hectares from Bugoma.
Court temporarily halted the cancellation of land title held by the king until the case is disposed of.