Govt cancels Masaka City land title over dispute
A section of the disputed piece of land on Plot 21 Grant Street in Masaka City whose title has been canceled by the Commissioner of Land Registration. PHOTO/MALIK FAHAD JJINGO
What you need to know:
Last year, it emerged that a total of 20 land titles for properties owned by the city were missing. It is still not clear how and when the titles were lost.
The Commissioner of Land Registration in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has cancelled the title of a disputed piece of land carved out of council land.
The land in dispute is on Plot 21 Grant Street in Masaka City. It was originally registered in Masaka Municipality name before it was transferred to a name of a private developer.
“For land comprised in leasehold register Volume Msk 287 folio 17 Plot 21 Grant Street Masaka Municipality are hereby cancelled forthwith and removed/plunged from the register book. The certificate of title concerning land comprised in leasehold register volume Msk 287 folio 17 Plot 21 Grant Street Masaka Municipality be registered in the names of Masaka Town Council,” Mr Johnson Bigira, the Commissioner of Land Registration, said in a statement.
He added: “Any aggrieved party by this decision has a right of appeal against the same within (60) sixty days under Section 91(10) of the Land Act.”
This followed a whistleblower’s complaint to police citing fraudulent transactions on the council land.
The police report established that the land title for Plot 21 Grant Street, Masaka City was illegally created in the name of Masijid Jamia Cinema Masaka Limited without any recommendation from Masaka Town Council.
The same was done without the instruction letter from the city clerk and it was subsequently transferred in the name of Jane Nansikombi, who in turn, sold it to Muhammad Miiro, with the report recommending cancellation of the certificate of title.
Police detectives further established that Plots 19 and 21 were created on the same title as a separation and sub-division of leasehold register Volume 515 folio 10, Plot 19-35 Grant Street Masaka City in the names of Masaka Town Council.
“It was erroneous for them to apply for the separation of two plots yet the authority from the council had only one plot, which is 19 that had been issued to Masijid Jamia Cinema Masaka,” the police report based on by Commissioner of Land Registration to cancel the title, reads in part.
Ms Nansinkombi, in her statement to police, said she was approached by land brokers who said Muslims were selling part of their land and they were willing to give her a land title. She said she went ahead with the transaction without doing due diligence.
She further explained that she bought the disputed piece of land and later sold it to Muhammad Miiro but she was surprised to receive information that the land had issues and the title was facing cancellation.
“I never worked directly with the council or Muslims, but worked with their representatives and the transaction seemed to be genuine. I also got registered on the title as I had been promised that I would get all the necessary documents to prove ownership of the land, which I later sold to another person,” she added.
The Nyendo-Mukungwe Municipality Mayor, Mr Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, in his submission, said the Council never had any intention of selling the two plots of land but it only gave Masijid Jamia Plot 19, which the speculators in the Council used to their advantage to carve off Plot 21 from the Council land. This was later irregularly sold to Ms Nansikombi as she claims.
“Nansikombi would have asked the people she paid the money for their position in the entities they claim they represented because the Council doesn’t use brokers when they intend to sell any of the properties” he added.
Mr Nakumusana said the decision to cancel the land title should be an eye-opener to other developers in the city who enter into dubious land transactions that have left several public properties and open spaces sold fraudulently.
“This is a good start on the long journey of fighting for public land fraudulently parcelled out by former land boards,” he added.
Mr Luke Sekamwa, the workers’ city representative, said they are going to review the city property inventory and find out which other pieces of land could have been lost in dubious land transactions.
Last year, it emerged that a total of 20 land titles for properties owned by the city were missing.
The city property inventory indicates that the affected properties include; Kkumbu Playground, Masaka Regional Referral Hospital mortuary, the newly constructed Masaka Central Market, Katwe Market, Masaka Bus Park, and the Mayor’s Chambers.
Others are Old Kkumbu Estate, Lions Nursery School, Masaka Public Library, Kkumbu Forest Reserve, Transit Parking Yard, Kyabakuza Health Centre II, Kimaanya residential house, Kimaanya Kabonera Sub-county headquarters, Bwala public playgrounds, City Yard, Masaka Golf Course, and several green belt spaces and plots within the central business area.
It is still not clear how and when the titles were lost.
