UGANDA, Wakiso | Real Muloodi News | Hamis Kiggundu’s lawyers, Muwema & Co Advocates, representing Ham’s company, Kiham Enterprises Ltd, have challenged the decision made by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to cancel his titles in Kigo.
The Office of the Commissioner of Land Registration in the Lands Ministry issued a decision on September 6, 2022 to amend the land register which directly affects Ham’s Freehold land title of FRV WAK 6104, FOLIO 25 Kyadondo Block 273, Plots 23974, 23975, 23976 and 23977 in Kigo.
This follows a complaint by Buganda Land Board (BLB) over land awarded to Ham’s company, Kiham Enterprises Limited, on grounds that it was issued over already existing Mailo titles owned by the Kabaka and a leasehold title issued to Pearl Development Group Limited.
BLB also complained that the titles were issued in a protected wetland (lake area), and alleged procedural irregularity in obtaining the titles.
In his ruling issued on Tuesday, the acting Commissioner of Land Registration, Baker Mugaino, said he had based his decision on the fact that there was a title overlay against titles that were issued earlier.
“I note that the procedure of allocating the land for the freehold titles were flawed and had irregularities, and the Commissioner Land Registration being the statutory custodian of the land register cannot maintain certificates of title on register where the due process of surveying, area land committee meetings involved illegalities that misled the office to issue titles,” ruled Mugaino.
Mugaino also agreed the disputed land is a wetland protected by law and doctrine of public trust. Mugaino cited Section 91(2) which gives him powers to cancel certificates where the same is issued illegally or wrongfully.
Ham’s lawyers immediately challenged the decision on the grounds of evident procedural impropriety and irregularities.
The challenge came after Ham’s lawyers observed that Mugaino’s decision was contrary to the official public hearing process the Office of the Commissioner of Land Registration had set up to investigate and handle the land dispute between Hamis Kiggundu and Buganda Land Board regarding the overlap of Kiggundu’s freehold land titles on the mailo land.
The Office of the Commissioner Land Registration had established a technical team comprising a neutral surveyor from Makerere University, surveyors and a cartographer from the Department of Surveys & Mapping, surveyors representing the two parties to the complaint, an environmental expert from the National Environmental management Authority (NEMA) and officers from the Department of Land Registration.
This official technical team produced a joint survey report that concluded that Hamis’ freehold land titles are on public land and so it was different from Kabaka’s land.
Based on the technical team’s findings, it was clear that the overlapping land owned by both parties was poorly surveyed. The technical team therefore recommended a resurvey of several plots of the contesting parties to align them to the common boundary line between public and mailo land.
However, according to Kiham’s lawyers, the Ministry’s decision to cancel his titles was not based on the findings of the official joint survey report written by the official technical team established by the Ministry’s own office. Rather, it was based on a minority survey report that not only contradicted the findings of the joint survey report, but also contained apparent procedural errors and anomalies.
Furthermore, the decision to change the registration of Ham’s land did not even attach the minority survey report upon which the decision was based.
‘Be that as it may, your decision does not attach the minority report which appears to have been made outside the terms of reference of the official joint survey. We, therefore, request to be availed with a copy of the Minority Survey report and the typed proceedings of the Public hearing to facilitate our next course of action,’ Kiham’s lawyers wrote.
Background
The land under contention is along the shores of Lake Victoria. Buganda Land Board claims to own the land in question whereas businessman Hamis Kiggundu insists that the land is private mailo and is therefore not part of the adjacent Kingdom land.
Although this land wrangle was brought before the ULC for arbitration of the two parties, the Commission seemed unaware to whom the land belonged at the time.
According to the joint survey report, in its recommendations, the land commission revealed that both private mailo and freehold exist in the same area of contention, thus aligning with Hamis’ argument that the area has both mailo and freehold tenure systems.
The team based its findings on the examination and crucial analysis of historical maps, land tenure maps, cadastral sheets, coordinates from the land information system and copies of certificates of title of the disputed land.
‘The team recommends a comprehensive resurvey of plots on Mailo and Public land in the area of interest to ensure re-alignment as per the common boundary of mailo and public land that has been determined in this report,’ the report, dated August 2022 read.
‘The key findings from the investigation is that there is existence of both Mailo and Public land on Block 273 with respective areas of approximately 10587.021 acres and 183.179 acres. Additionally, Mailo and Freehold titles in the area of interest encroach on each other by the extent shown in the report. This is mainly attributable to the poor surveys that have been carried out on this block. In terms of the existence of wetland and lakeshore, this has been answered in the affirmative with clear extents established according to the NEMA guidelines. For completeness, the extents of wetlands and lakeshores on Mailo and Freehold titles have also been clearly determined and quantified,’ the report continued.
The team used several standard reference materials from the Ministry of Lands and guidelines relating to the environment from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
These were the Terms of Reference that were agreed upon by the investigating technical team.
- To establish whether there is public land on Kyadondo Block 273,
- To establish the existence of wetlands on Kyadondo Block 273 and acreage of the same,
- To establish the lake shoreline and its reserve per NEMA,
- To establish the boundaries of Kabaka’s mailo titles and Kiham’s freehold titles.
According to NEMA’s submission in the joint survey report, in case it is proven that the land in contention is a wetland, which is public land, then both parties lose the right to the land.
If it is, however, proven that the land was legally obtained, then the rightful party should be compensated for the time and resources invested in investigating the matter.
What Led to the above Joint Survey Report?
Earlier this year, Buganda Land Board sought police intervention to stop the construction of a road and drainage channel through plots 273, 38, 87, 99, 110 and others which belong to the Buganda Kingdom.
Buganda Kingdom claims that Kiggundu illegally created the freehold title of WAK 6104, FOLIO 25 Kyadondo BLOCK 273, Plots 23974, 23975, 23976 and 23977, which are already undergoing cancellation at the Ministry of Lands.
Kiggundu’s side of the story is that the disputed land is a freehold granted by the Wakiso District Land Board and the freehold land titles were issued in November 2019 by the Wakiso District Land Office.
The land falls under ‘Public Land’ formerly plot 20 and referred to as ‘Total Lake Area,’ which originally measured approximately 289.34 acres
‘Private mailo land on Kyadondo Block 273 plots 87, 99, 110 and others, land at Kigo shares boundaries with the public land (already described above), mainly comprising; Mirembe Villas, Kigo prisons, part of Serena Kigo land, taking part of the Munyonyo Spur Road outwards beyond the Munyonyo Spur,’ Kiggundu said.
The boundary opening should clarify and ascertain the true location of both properties. It is also a way of confirming that the two properties are separate and do not overlap with one another, the only similarity being that they fall within the same block and county.
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