Nabakooba orders probe into Soroti Golf Club land

The minister of Lands has ordered an investigation into Soroti Golf Club land wrangle to ascertain its ownership.

The wrangle between the registered trustees of Soroti Golf Club and Soroti City Council has been ongoing for a couple of years, after Mr David Calvin Echodu and others allegedly entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with people claiming to be custodians of Soroti Golf Club land.

Mr Echodu and others registered another entity “Soroti Golf Club Limited, which has claimed ownership of the golf land.

 In an August 23 letter, Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba said the registered trustees of Soroti Golf Club and Soroti Municipal Council, now Soroti City, are claiming ownership of the land on plot 10-12 Kennedy Square.

 She said Soroti Municipal Council was issued with a certificate of title for the disputed land.

 As a result, Ms Nabakooba said investigations should be carried out to establish the rightful owner of the land. 

“This is, therefore, to direct you [all parties involved] to halt any transactions and activities on this land pending investigation and resolution of the dispute on this land,” part of her letter reads.

The minister called for the probe in the letter addressed to Soroti City, the State minister of Lands, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Lands, and Soroti City mayor.

 Ms Nabakooba said: “By copy of this letter, the commissioner-land registration is directed to investigate issues regarding ownership of this land and place caveat on the land.”

 On August 9, in a meeting, Soroti City Councillors made a U-turn and resolved to allocate the golf land to an aggrieved developer who had threatened to drag them to court for alleged breach of contract after the city council on June 16 demolished a structure that was being raised on the land.

 The council decision was made amid allegations that some councillors obtained bribes to parcel out the golf land to the developer.

 Earlier on, Soroti City council authorities had accused Mr Echodu, a Ugandan based in the USA, of constructing a structure on golf land without prior approvals by the city council.

In the wake of this decision, the registered trustees of Soroti Golf Club land, through their lawyer, threatened to sue Soroti City for giving out land titled in the name of Soroti Gold Club land with a lease running for 99 years.

 Despite the threats by the registered trustees to sue, the Soroti City clerk, Mr Daniel Christopher Kawesi, on August 15, wrote to the chief government valuer demanding that the land be valued before it is sold.