Government officials clash over sale of Obey’s property

Christopher Obey

KAMPALA- Mubende District lands officials have allegedly sold off about 6,400 acres of Christopher Obey’s land whose title is being held as an exhibit in ongoing cases against him.

The government on September 9, 2016 and November 28, 2017 placed a caveat forbidding any transactions on the land in Buwekula, Mubende District.

The sale of the land has triggered confusion among government officials in the Justice, Law and Order Sector, with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) deputy director Joseph Obwona questioning the legality of the transactions.

Mr Obwona in a March 15, 2018 letter, ordered Mubende District police commander, Mr Patrick Byaruhanga, to “ensure that each encroacher account for his or her presence on the land” and establish the “legality of issuance of land titles to new registered owners”.

Kampala District Land Board (KDLB) chairperson Yusuf Nsibambi, in an insight on the matter, on request by this newspaper, said no individual can be a bonafide on the land with a caveat.

A buyer would have “bought hot air”, he said, referring to reported transactions on Obey’s land.

Mr Obey is a former Public Service ministry principal accountant and is being prosecuted jointly with former permanent secretary Jimmy Lwamafa and the ministry research director Stephen Kunsa on allegations of embezzling pension money.

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Pension scam: Judge denies Lwamafa, two others bail

The judge noted that she was not convinced by the merits of the applications

Our investigations show that Mubende District Land Board sold the land in question to four Tropical Eco Forest Company Ltd directors in September 2016.

We were unable to establish the amount the buyers paid, and implicated Mubende District officials were unavailable when we tried to reach them for a comment.

Several plots
The land comprises several plots in blocks 357, 393 and 357/38.
The intervention by the deputy CID director followed a petition by Mr Arthur Kazoora of MK Mutara Associates, who was nominated by Mr Obey to manage all land registered in his name.

In his petition, a copy of which this newspaper has seen, Mr Kazoora noted that Mr Obey bought the huge tracts of land between 2001 and 2005 from several bibanja holders (squatters) interests.

He alleges that police in Mubende headed by the DPC and the land officials forged land titles on existing original titles of Mr Obey and brought in Rwandans and refugees from Rwamwanja camp in Kamwenge District to settle on the land.
The deputy DPP Elem-Ogwal in a March 13, 2018 letter directed state attorneys in Mubende to halt charges against the alleged encroachers.

“…you are advised that all these are to be stayed pending resolution of the High Court case as no new prosecutions can take place,” he wrote.
Mr Kazoora alleges that the DPP was taking side.