Minister investigates Lwengo land dispute

LWENGO-The State Minister for Lands, Sam Mayanja is to intervene in a dispute where two Ugandan groups are conflicting with an Indian, Kulsum Patel over 257 acres of land located at Kasambya estate in Kinoni town council, Lwengo district.

This comes after  Patel in her letter dated October 10, 2022, petitioned the minister seeking protection after she allegedly received threats from the Ugandans claiming ownership of the land comprised in folio 67 volume 21 measuring 257 acres at Kasambya village.

She said the groups claiming the said land want her to vacate the land yet she is the rightful occupier. She said she recently received a letter from Lwengo deputy RDC, Robert Kambugu, stopping her from using the land until further notice from his office or courts of law, a decision she said was unfair to her as the administrator of the land.

While defending his action, Kambugu said it was meant to pave way for investigation ”I had to stop all the activities on that land so that my office can make a thorough investigation,” he said.

One group led by Issa Nsereko and Badru Bbaale Bwanika filed a case in Masaka High Court [civil suit 57] on July 26, 2022, against Patel and commissioner for land registration, claiming that they bought the land from the beneficiaries of late Yunia Kamuwanda Lubega.

Another group of Abdul Bukenya, Yasin Sseguya, Rehema Nabukenya and Moses Kamoga had filed another case earlier on September 22, 2022, against Patel and the commissioner of land registration claiming that their father, the Sabiiti Lubega who died in 1978 took possession of the land after the expulsion of the Asians in 1971.

Sabiiti Lubega was a resident of Kasambya village and was given the contested land by the late Ugandan president Iddi Amin Dada after he expelled the Asians.

Lubega’s son, Abdu Bukenya registered his name on the title in 1989 when the Asians were still in exile.

At first, the title was registered in the name of Karmali Esmail in 1950 and transferred in 1959 to the name of Chaganbhai Motibhai  Patel until the Asians were expelled by late President Iddi Amin.

Then Commissioner of land registration says that there was an illegal transfer of the title to Abdu Bukenya in 1989. However, in 1995, through the Departed Asian Properties’ Custodian Board, Chaganbhai Motibhai Patel reclaimed the land.

He was issued with the certificate of repossession No 2431. He later died and the property was transferred to Shivji Nazimddin who also transferred the property to a family member Kulsum Patel as an administrator of the estate.

Now, Kulsum Patel says her land is fraudulently claimed by the two Ugandan groups who have filed for a temporary court injunction stopping her from using the land.

”These unjustified fraudulent cases have caused me a lot of anxiety and expenses,” she said, adding that she has established projects on the land where she employs residents of the area, but with plans to put up small factories.

Meanwhile, in a letter idated October 13, 2022, minister Mayanja asked Lwengo RDC to provide security to Patel and her properties.

Mayanja is expected to visit the contested land on December 15, 2022, to confirm the claims put forward by the petitioner, Patel.

https://thecooperator.news/land-dispute-derails-establishment-of-livestock-market/

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