Court acquits 5 accused of forging titles on NSSF land

For lack of evidence, Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court has freed five people accused of fraudulently acquiring land belonging to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in Lubowa, near Kampala.

The acquitted are Mr Mohammad Kityo Lubowa, Mr Moses Bogere, Ms Betty Namanya, Ms Daphine Nakanwagi and Mr Patrick Onyango.

This was after presiding Grade One Magistrate Elisha Arinaitwe discredited the prosecution case and could not put the accused on defence.

“The prosecution’s mode of recovery of documents, mode of custody of evidence specifically the expert’s report, and the inconsistencies in the evidence of witnesses, which, he said, caused to loss of credibility in the eyes of the court and the failure to examine the documents uploaded onto the system as against sample signatures and stamps was the turning point of the case,” ruled Mr Arinaitwe on April 17.

Adding: “Most of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution was manifestly unreliable and no reasonable tribunal acting on such evidence would safely convict the accused person. For these reasons that I have labored to explain above and other many reasons manifestly on record, I find no case against all the accused persons and I acquit them forthwith.”

The land in question is about 186 acres.
The charges sheet indicated that Mr Kityo, Mr Bogere, Ms Namanya, and Ms Nakanwagi were charged with fraudulent procurement of titles, contrary to Section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act cap 230.

It was the prosecution’s case that the accused except Mr Onyango, had between 2015 and 2019 at different places in Wakiso district fraudulently procured a certificate of title of land comprised in FRV WAK 6104 Folio 24 Block 269 plots 3234-3240 of NSSF.

Under count two, Mr Onyango alone, had been charged with fraudulent procurement of title, contrary to Section 190 of the Registration of Titles Act..

He allegedly did this by falsely creating a Job Record Jacket file in respect of the said land without following the requisite procedure for making the same.

In an attempt to prove its case, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) adduced nine witnesses.

The first prosecution witness had in his testimony before the court claimed to have at the end of 2019 received a complaint from the security team that the NSSF land at Lubowa had been encroached upon by the accused persons, who wanted to take possession of it.

The witness further told the court that the accused persons had identified themselves as the rightful owners of the said contested land and not the Fund before advising its management to conduct investigations.

The State House Anti-Corruption Unit was tasked to investigate the matter, with their investigations confirming that the titles belonged to the accused persons.

The third prosecution witness, Ms Janat Nabuuma, had in her testimony before the court, said she issued a certificate of title in favour of Mr Lubowa, Mr Bogere, Ms Namanya, and Ms Nakanwagi.

The court in analysing its evidence found that the accused person’s certificate of title was the first to be registered in the system.

The freed accused persons now want NSSF to vacate their land.

The office of the Chief State Attorney at Makindye Court, has filed a notice of appeal, challenging the acquittal.
“We humbly request for certified copies of the record of proceedings and ruling in the matter to enable us to proceed with the appeal,” reads in part the notice of appeal of the DPP filed on Friday.

Ms Barbra Teddy Arimi, the head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at NSSF, last evening said they agree with the DPP’s decision to appeal.

“It is also important to note that charges before court were not about ownership of land, but a fraud perpetrated at the Wakiso Lands office that led to an overlay of titles onto the Fund’s registered land in Lubowa, off Entebbe Road. The Fund has legal title and is in possession of all the land totaling 600 acres,” she said.