Court clears eviction of district from 150-acre land
Justice Fredrick Martin Egonda Ntende. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY/ULS
What you need to know:
- Core to the application of stay by Serere District Local Government was that if the Court of Appeal didn’t stay the execution of the Soroti High Court orders, the authority would lose the Veterinary house and offices.
Serere District Local Government has lost an application in which it had sought protective orders not to be evicted from a contested 150-acre piece of land in Serere District.
Sitting as a single judge, Justice Fredrick Martin Egonda Ntende in his ruling that he delivered on November 12, held that Serere District Local Government had failed to show the court how it would suffer irreparable damage if an order of stay of eviction is not issued.
“The applicant has failed to establish the requisite grounds upon which the court can exercise its discretion to grant an order of stay of execution. It suffices to state that the application is without merit. Subject to the conservatory order herein made, this application is dismissed with costs,” Justice Ntende said.
The ruling of the court arises from the Soroti High Court judgment that ruled that the contested 150-acre piece of land belongs to human rights defender, Mr Moses Omiat, and not the Serere District Local Government and four other people (Mr Joseph Atingu, Mr Stephen Ejanyu, Mr Sostine Okoja, and Mr Calvin Olinga).Being dissatisfied with the Soroti High Court decision, Serere District Local Government through the Attorney General, sought redress at the Court of Appeal.
In the meantime, as they await the outcome of the appeal, they filed an application, seeking a stay of the execution orders of the Soroti High that, among others, allowed Mr Omiat to carry out evictions on the said land.
Core to the application of stay by Serere District Local Government was that if the Court of Appeal didn’t stay the execution of the Soroti High Court orders, the authority would lose the Veterinary house and offices, it constructed and are operation on the said land.
This move, they argue, would lead to the displacement of government offices/ disruption of services being offered on the same land, which is now a subject of appeal before the same Court of Appeal.
But Justice Ntende in his ruling, reasoned that despite the Serere District Local Government claiming it was using the said contested land as a holding ground for cattle during the vaccination and mass treatment of animals, there was no evidence to that effect in the affidavits presented in court.“… Neither is an affidavit sworn from the staff of the alleged user department who would indicate what kind of use, if any, is made of the suit land and probable loss, if any, the applicant would suffer if an order for stay of execution is not granted,” the judge said.
Following Justice Ntende’s ruling, Mr Omiat can now proceed to evict Serere District Local Government and four other individuals who were declared trespassers by Soroti High Court on his customary land.
According to Mr Omiat, he has suffered irreparable damage and loss due to the dispute.
“They have been widening land holdings, cutting trees for timber, cutting trees for charcoal, brick making, burning bricks, cutting trees for making weekly market structures, and dumping non-degradable waste from the market on the farmland,” Mr Omiat told the media after the ruling was delivered last week in Kampala.
He added: “All the mature trees have been cut down; and exploited after the judgment was delivered on June 15, 2022. Nothing is now left on the land.”
Much as Mr Omiat is free to now evict the trespassers, Justice Ntende in his ruling said he shouldn’t alter the ownership of the land by selling it to third parties, pending the outcome of the appeal that is yet to be determined by three justices of the Court of Appeal.Last month, the same judge dismissed a similar application filed by the four men (Mr Atingu, Mr Ejanyu, Mr Okoja, and Mr Olinga), who had an interest in the same piece of land and were also seeking a stay of execution of the Soroti High Court orders including being evicted from the land.
ABOUT DISPUTE
The protracted legal battle between Serere District Local Government and Mr Moses Omiat started in 2016, when the latter petitioned the court, claiming to be the rightful owner of his family’s ancestral chunk of land. After litigation spanning over six years, in 2022, Justice Peter Adonyo ruled that Mr Omiat was the rightful owner of the land, having customarily inherited the same from his late father, George William Amolo.
