Ex-MP, cousins locked in family land dispute

A family in Nwoya District has protested a recent High Court ruling directing the subdivision of a piece of land they own to former Nwoya County Member of Parliament Zachary Olum.
The land in dispute that measures 2,751.086 acres is in Loka Aswa Village in Alero Sub-county, Nwoya District, and was owned by Mr Sylvester Martin Odora, the cousin of Mr Olum. Odora died in 1990.

Mr Olum had dragged the family to the High Court in Gulu in September 2015 seeking subdivision of the land so that he secures a title deed for part of the land in his sole name. Mr Olum sued his deceased cousin’s sons, Mr John Bongomin Odora and Mr John Bosco Nyeko, while other respondents were Mr Geoffrey Opok, Mr Charles Odora and Mr Marino Okot, who are beneficiaries settled on the land.

Documents tendered before court by Mr Olum’s lawyers indicates that the respondents claimed the entire piece of land that belonged to their late father Odora and had attempted to evict Mr Olum from the land. Mr Olum also argues that he is a co-owner, backed by a title deed he presented in court.

But his cousins, in their affidavit seeking an injunction on subdivision of the land, say Mr Olum’s title deed stating that he is co-owner of the land was forged. They say the land was solely owned by Mr Odora.
They also say the lease offer made on July 1983 was registered in respect of the said land in favor of late Odora alone, and that Mr Olum, who was then minister of Land, caused his name to be added onto the title deed by typewriter.

The respondents lawyers say the title presented in court by Mr Olum indicates the registration date as July 8, 1983, yet their father’s registration was made on July 7 of the same year as recommended by West Acholi Committee. But in an April 1 court ruling, the Gulu Resident Judge Stephen Mubiru ruled in favour of Mr Olum, saying he is entitled to the enforcement of his right to property by way of portioning off his 354.471 hectares of land. Justice Mubiru also said he had not found any basis of awarding general damages.

“For all the foregoing reasons, the application is allowed with costs to the applicant,” he ruled.
But speaking to Sunday Monitor in an interview on Friday, Mr John Bosco Odora, the son of late Odora, said the court ruling was unfair given the fact that court acknowledged evidence they adduced that Mr Olum only became a co-owner in 2014, about 24 years after the death of Odora, his cousin.

Mr Odora said the land was leased on April 6, 1976, by the West Acholi Land Committee to his late father Odora.
He said a five-year leasehold title for mixed farming in respect to the land was later issued when Olum was in exile in Tanzania in the 1970s. Mr Odora said his father would later hand the document to Mr Olum who was then Lands minister for safe custody prior to his death in 1990 at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor.

“As children of the deceased while growing up, they told us that our father’s estate document were with our uncle Olum. When we became of age, we requested transfer of the document, but Mr Olum was hesitant to hand it over to us,” he said.
He said in 2006, Mr Olum approached them that their father’s title had expired and requested for Shs700,000 from them to help process extension of the lease offer.

“We waited in vain for his feedback on the extension of lease offer, even when we tried to approach him, he would dodge us and sometimes promised that he would give the document. We patiently waited till 2008, but he didn’t approach us,” he said.
Mr Odora says in 2012, Mr Olum was summoned by Peter Lawot, the chief of their clans, Bwobo Manam, and promised to hand over the document within two weeks but he never complied.

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