UGANDA, Wakiso | Real Muloodi News | Nixon Hibert Mugabo and Betty Mugabo have accused the Police Legal Affairs and Human Rights Director, Christine Nanding and the District Police Commander (DPC) of Kajjansi, Kitaka of stopping them from having access and possession of their two bibanja in Kigo, Wakiso District.
Through their lawyers M/s GW Bwanika and Co. Advocates, the couple wrote to the Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola, the Police Legal Director and DPC of “acting in contempt of court. They undermined the execution of a High Court Land Division Interim order which had already been cleared for execution by the Commandant Land Protection Unit in Kibuli.”
It is reported that between 2001 and 2002, the couple bought land in Kigo.
“The sellers were lawful bibanja holders having occupied and utilized the same for a very long time. The registered owner of the land is Magadelena Nabizizi whose caretaker Nicholas Lubula okayed the sale,” said Betty Mugabo.
However, in 2015, Nabizizi filed a civil suit in Entebbe Magistrates Court challenging the ownership of the land by the couple and seeking a declaration that they were trespassers on the land.
The trial court ruled in favour of the couple. Nabizizi appealed to High Court where she lost still.
The lawyers and couple disclose that Nabizizi resorted to other measures which failed in court.
“In the month of June 2021, a one Muwawu Dennis purporting to be a son of Magadelena Nabizizi ferried about 14 people to our clients’ kibanja and destroyed the crops. They eventually fenced off the kibanja with barbed wire and even brought containers to her bibanja interests and further deployed goons who stopped them from the right to access and use the bibanja interests,” the lawyers revealed.
The lawyers say that the acts of Nabizizi and her agents were illegal since land evictions of bona fide or lawful occupants during the Covid-19 lockdown were outlawed, and there was no court order to that effect.
The matter was then taken to the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, who directed the Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander to end it.
However, some Ministry of Lands officials allegedly came up with another letter contrasting the minister’s directives.
“Some unscrupulous persons in the office of the Ministry of Lands while dealing with other persons not known to our client…forged and came up with another letter whereby the letter with Ref: No.LAD 13/14/01 Dated 27th July 2021 addressed to the Commander Metropolitan was implemented by the Commandant as you directed,” Mugabo’s lawyers said.
Because of this fake document, Dennis Muwawu went ahead to fence the couple’s two bibanja under the full protection of the area Mutungo Police Station.
George William Mayanja, the chairperson of Mutungo Central Cell, says the land has become a wanted asset and a source of conflict. He revealed land grabbers who deploy gangsters well known as ‘kukumanga’ to put away any resistance from the lawful land owners. These gangsters intimidate the locals and leaders which needs the intervention of the police.
“Many people find themselves on land with two or three titles and there are so many cases that have been brought to the office of the L.C 1. Secondly, we have also discovered that Kabaka land unlike before has several lease titles and these were processed without obtaining consent from bibanja holders,” George William Nswa said.
The couple cried out for help for fear of losing their asset.
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