UGANDA, Kazo | Real Muloodi News | Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) and Jakana Foods Ltd (JFL) owner Daniel Herbert Lule Jakana have come under fire as new evidence has emerged indicating that due diligence may not have been properly carried out when KCCA bought land from Jakana Foods Ltd for about USh1 billion.
The land in question is 0.066 acres comprised in LRV 4552 FOLIO 13 BLOCK 203 PLOT 11780 at Kazo, Kyaddondo.
It later emerged that Jakana sold the land without the consent of his ailing 93-year-old mother, Edith Nagujja Jakana, who had even lodged a caveat on it.
The widow wants the commissioner of land registration to be summoned to explain how he was able to issue a land title to KCCA when her caveat was still present.
She rejects KCCA’s and Jakana’s assertions that she was served notice through her postal office box number asking her to go to the commissioner of land registration’s office to show cause why the caveat she had placed on the shouldn’t be removed.
Following the fresh revelations by the widow, the Deputy Registrar of the high court’s land division, Agnes Alumu, has set June 1, 2023, for her lawyers to formally apply for the commissioner’s appearance.
Genesis of the Land Dispute
The disputed land is part of the estate of the late Daniel Nelson George Nkuse Jakana, who died on December 24, 1994.
The late Jakana left a Will dated January 31, 1971, in which he appointed his wife Edith Jakana and his son Daniel as executors.
On October 28, 2004, Nagujja and Daniel filed a petition for the grant of probate as duly appointed joint executors for the estate of the late Jakana.
On February 7, 2005, Lordship Moses Mukiibi granted the executors letters of probate for the deceased’s estate.
However, Nagujja claims that her son, Daniel, whom she trusted and entrusted with the day-to-day issues of running the family estate, forged her signature and used it to execute his misdemeanours until she discovered the anomaly and alerted the family.
A meeting was held to discuss the matter, which was also attended by Peter Mulira, the family’s then-legal advisor.
Daniel continued to claim that the signature belonged to his mother, but Nagujja contested this, stating that her signature had been forged.
Nagujja later dragged her son to court through her lawyers, M/S W. MU UMUZA & CO. ADVOCATES, in Civil Suit No. 1090/19 of the High Court of Uganda at Kampala, Land Division seeking legal redress over 0.066 acres comprised in LRV 4552 FOLIO 13 BLOCK 203 PLOT 11780 Land at Kazo, Kyaddondo, that was allegedly sold to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) by her son Daniel and his Jakana Foods Ltd, in disregard of an existing caveat.
Nagujja, who holds an equitable interest claim, says that the current proprietor of Jakana Foods Ltd, her son Daniel Jakana, was registered thereon without her consent as a kibanja holder, and was subject to Civil Suit No. 1099 of 2019, which seeks the cancellation of the impugned Certificate of Title which was duly registered.
KCCA transacted with Jakana Foods Ltd leading to the mutation of 0.066 acres off the described land for purposes of construction of a drainage channel, yet the caveat was still intact at the time.
Between June 2021 and November 2021, KCCA paid Jakana Foods Ltd, a total sum of UGX 827.4 million as compensation for acquiring the described land.
Nagujja avers that the transaction was illegal owing to the caveat, thus culminating in her seeking legal redress to recover the total sum of USh827.4 million.
The Accusations
Nagujja accuses her son of forging her signature and using it to execute his misdemeanours.
In response to the allegations, Jakana and KCCA insist everything was done by the law, and due process was followed.
Despite the claims made by KCCA and Jakana, the caveat placed by Nagujja is still in place. Her lawyers argue that this shows that Jakana may have sold KCCA land that he did not have the right to sell.
The evidence presented by Nagujja’s lawyers raises serious concerns about the legitimacy of the land purchase and the due diligence process carried out by KCCA before making the purchase.
The Widow’s Demands
Currently, the case has escalated, with the Commissioner of Land Registration being summoned to explain how he issued a title to KCCA at a time when Nagujja’s caveat was still in place.
The widow wants the commissioner to produce the white page of the title to show whether her caveat is still present.
If it is no longer there, she wants the commissioner to explain under what circumstances it was removed while it remains present on her copy.
Nagujja wants compensation for general and punitive damages from KCCA, Jakana Foods Ltd, and the Commissioner in charge of land registration, who failed in their mandate of taking charge and control of the office of titles, and general conveyance, among other duties.
The case continues to unfold, and more details are likely to emerge as the legal process continues.
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