Who is fooling who on Lubowa land row?

President Museveni yesterday flagged off the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Solana Lifestyle and Residences—Lubowa housing project—on Entebbe Road amid a dispute over ownership of the land sitting on Block 269 in Wakiso District.

The NSSF’s $400m (Shs1.5 trillion) housing project includes posh residences and high-level condominiums.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Court yesterday adjourned the trial of 13 former and current Wakiso land officials over fraudulent procurement of a certificate—dubious [re]titling of the land in question to private individuals. 

Three officers; Herbert Katabalwa, Joseph Kizito, and Gilbert Kasozi were slapped with additional charges of abuse of office.

The accused deny the charges and point to an invisible hand of a syndicate of government officials in various offices pushing for NSSF to pay out Shs200b as compensation to the private claimants of the land.

The NSSF’s managing director, Mr Richard Byarugaba, told Daily Monitor that upon notification of irregular titling of the Workers’ Fund’s land, they notified authorities.

“Investigations established irregularities and the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) has preferred charges against some of these individuals together with the lands officials involved in the irregular creation of titles on the Fund’s land. They have also filed cases in court. The Fund awaits the decisions of the court. In the meantime, we have full possession of our land and continue to develop it,” Mr Byarugaba said.

Other claimants

The other land claimants are Mr Muhammed Kityu, Mr Moses Bogere, Ms Daphine Nakanwagi, and Ms Betty Namanya.

Ms Namanya and her husband, Mr January Bamanzi, in October last year accused NSSF of torching their home as part of the land wrangle in Nalumunye, Jomayi Estates, an incident in which two children, aged two and 10 months, were burnt. The land dispute has entangled several government offices, including the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, the Inspectorate of Government, ministry of Lands, and the Wakiso land office.

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among wrote to President Museveni on July 19 on behalf of the claimants to intervene.

A July 2020 report by the then Col Edith Nakalema-led State House Anti-Corruption report detailed that NSSF owns about 600 acres of land in Lubowa, parcelled out in 109 different freehold certificates of titles. The land was registered to NSSF between 2003 and 2004.

A search report issued by the ministry of Lands found that the surveyor’s report confirms that NSSF’s land at Lubowa has indeed been fraudulently parcelled out.

The report further established that officers at Wakiso ministry zonal office continued to dubiously process certificates on the land.

The report recommended that the commissioner for Land Registrations urgently reviews the matter and cancels all the fraudulently acquired titles.

But upon their cancellation, private claimants petitioned the High Court in 2020, which decision was overturned by Justice Musa Ssekaana on technical grounds.

Justice Ssekaana reasoned that whereas fraud is not authorised by the law, and is, therefore, an illegality, it is very special type of illegality and is required to be specifically pleaded and strictly proved before court.

“That upon amendment of the Land Act, all the other grounds which empowered the Registrar of Titles to cancel a certificate of title were imported into the Land Act save for fraud. The Supreme Court held that the absence of fraud in the new provision was deliberate,” the judgment read in part.

In 2021, the then Lands minister, Ms Beti Kamya, led the process for boundary opening of the same land.

The meeting was attended by, among others, her ministry officials, NSSF, the claimants, and police in Lubowa.

In a March 15, 2021 correspondence, in response to one of March 2 by Col Nakalema, Ms Kamya implored the ministry not to implement the court order owing to findings that NSSF owned the land.

Ms Kamya said they risked being held in contempt of court.

“Implementation of the court order is not discretionary or optional lest this ministry and its officers be cited in contempt of court. It’s worth noting that the affected entity is the NSSF with the machinery and the necessary legal apparatus to overturn or set aside the alleged unfair court order,” Ms Kamya wrote.

Alleged syndicate

Early this month, Mr Gilbert Kasozi, a senior lands management officer at Wakiso land zonal offices, who is facing doubles charges of abuse of office and titling NSSF’s land, petitioned the IGG, Ms Kamya, over an alleged syndicated plot involving several officials to defraud taxpayers in a dubious compensation scheme. Mr Kasozi, whose signature was reportedly forged to initiate the fraudulent titles, said while he has petitioned several offices to block the dubious compensation, his hopes are waning because those involved in the scheme are spread across several top levels.

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