The High Court in Mubende District ruled in favour of the Buganda Land Board (BLB) after declaring that the lease title created by Uganda Tea Growers Corporation (In liquidation) on Owesaza’s official Mailo Estate was null and void after a five-year legal battle.
In June 1997, Mubende District Land Board leased out the disputed land, located in Mityana, at the Singo Ssaza headquarters to Uganda Tea Growers on a five-year renewable lease period. However, Uganda Tea Growers in March 2019 dragged BLB to court, accusing it of trespassing on its land after the latter had sold the same land to two individuals in Bogere Rachael and Robinah Semitala.
The Corporation claimed that BLB had no rights to allocate this land to any third party as it had a leasehold title over the disputed land.
But in its defence against the accusation, BLB, through its legal department denied the allegation of trespass, saying the land in question is an official mailo estate of the owesaaza of Singo which now vests in the Kabaka of Buganda and that the said land is under its jurisdiction.
BLB also filed a counterclaim against Uganda Tea Growers seeking to have its lease cancelled on grounds that the said lease was issued by the Mubende district land board which had no jurisdiction to allocate land in Mityana District, and that an expired lease cannot be renewed.
The Kabaka board also argued that the Plaintiff was in liquidation & could not acquire new assets during liquidation and that the Lease in issue was created on an official mailo returned estate of the Kabaka of Buganda on land of Singo Sazza headquarters without the consent of the kingdom among others.
In his ruling delivered on February 13, 2024, Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi of Mubende High Court concurred with BLB that the Mubende District Land Board can only allocate Land which is in Mubende district yet the land in question was in Mityana/Singo.
He also resonated with BLB that pursuant to the Traditional Rulers (Restoration of Assets & Properties) Act and the 2013 agreement made there-under between the Kingdom & Government, the lease in question was illegally created on an official mailo land and thus the district land board was in error.
Justice Kazibwe explained since all land where the Ssaza and Gombolola administrative headquarters are situated was returned to the Kingdom, in this case, the Plaintiff’s lease was issued on land where the Singo Sazza headquarters is situated hence created on a returned estate of the Kingdom.
As a result, the court dismissed Uganda Tea Growers’ lawsuit against BLB and ruled in favour of BLB’s counterclaim. The judge ordered the Commissioner of Land Registration to cancel the lease that Uganda Tea Growers had for the Ssaza land.
Additionally, the Tea Growers Corporation was ordered to pay BLB’s legal costs for both the lawsuit and the counterclaim.
Speaking to the media, Mr Dennis Bugaya, a Lawyer and Spokesperson of BLB welcomed the court ruling and made it clear that Buganda Land Board has authority over Kabaka’s land following the 2013 agreement and said no one including the district land boards has the capacity to lease out Mengo’s land let alone issuing titles over it.
“You cannot go around as a district land board processing lease or freehold titles on Kabaka’s land. The court declaration is clear that whatever was processed by the Mubende District Land board was in error and therefore these titles must be cancelled,” Bugaya said.
Following the landmark ruling, the Kingdom (Buganda) reclaimed the land in question which is currently being used for a mega-hospital project by Mengo authorities.
The case took a span of five years having been filed in 2019, Judgment delivered on 13th February 2024
