Court to settle ownership dispute over Masaka’s children park land

Mediation to resolve a wrangle between Masaka City authorities and a businesswoman over the Children Park land has failed, this publication has learnt.

Last year, Ms Sylvia Nagujja Lutta dragged Masaka City Council to court, seeking to halt a move by the authorities to take over the 2.07-acre piece of land on Plot 64-74, Elgin Street in Masaka City. 

Last month, Masaka High Court asked the two parties to mediate and settle the matter out of court. However, the process has hit a snag, with the city council now seeking to have the matter resolved in court.

Mr Daniel Christopher Kaweesi, the Masaka City town clerk, said talks between the city council and Ms Lutta were aborted after both parties disagreed on key issues such as ownership of the disputed piece of land.

He said while the city believes that the open space belongs to the city, Ms Lutta also insists that she is the rightful owner of the land since she has a title deed to the open space.

“We had the engagements as the court had advised, but we failed to agree on who is the owner of the suit land, this remains a matter of contention which we need the court to help us settle; so, we are going back to court to have this issue resolved,” he said.

Available information indicates that Ms Lutta had accepted to give Masaka City Council Shs100m as compensation for costs of the legal battles, which started last year, but the city authorities rejected the offer. 

In a related development, a section of city leaders led by the Nyendo/Mukungwe Municipality mayor, Mr Michael Mulindwa Nakumusaana, claimed they have information that Ms Lutta’s agents have started contacting some city councillors and giving them cash handouts to have the council pass a resolution offering the disputed piece of land to her.

“Her agents are given between Shs2 million and Shs3 million to councillors with the intention of supporting the move to have council allocate suit land to her,” Mr Mulindwa said.

However, Masaka City mayor Florence Namayanja dismissed reports of bribery as baseless and challenged those with evidence to present it.

“I don’t know who is circulating such wild allegations, if we are fighting corruption let's come out openly, there are some people who are good at spreading rumours,” she added.

Ms Lutta could not be accessed for comment by press time. Ms Zahara Nalubyayi, a female councillor representing Kimaanya/Kabonera Municipality, said they are still committed to fighting those behind the illegal sale of public land in the city.

“I ask my fellow councillors who are being used in this process of gifting public land to a developer to think twice. Let them take the money, but their attempts to engage in corruption at the expense of the wananchi will not work,” she said.

On August 12, 2023, unknown people descended on the park and fenced it with iron sheets, a move that was protested by residents and area legislators led by Dr Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya/Kabonera), insisting that the land belongs to the city council. 

Angry city residents last month stormed the park and pulled down the fence allegedly erected by Ms Lutta.

According to a September 1, 2023 search report signed by Ms Jannat Nabuuma, the senior registrar of titles, the leasehold register Volume 515, Folio 13 land at Elgin Road, Masaka Municipality, and Plot 64-74 has a running lease of 99 years and 11 months issued on January 1, 1959.

The search report seen by this newspaper also indicates that the owner of the disputed land is Masaka Town Council (currently, the city council). The lease expiry date is December 1, 2058.

2024 land crisis report

A new report released in Kampala in March showed that land wrangles form the biggest part of the daily legal needs of Ugandans. The report dubbed “Justice Needs and Satisfaction in Uganda 2024” shows that 42 percent of the people have been involved in land disputes. 

Also, 23 percent of the people had experienced more than one legal problem, considering land disputes as the most serious. The research was randomly sampled among 6,300 adults both in the rural and urban places between September and October 2023.

The findings also showed that at least 95 percent of Ugandans had a legal problem in the reporting period.