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Justice eludes 61-year-old man evicted a decade ago
M Badru Juuko Kayondo,61. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- On October 27, State minister for Lands, Mr Sam Mayanja, wrote a letter to the Mbarara RDC instructing that Juuko be reinstated on the land on grounds that he is bonafide occupant.
- Mr Juuko’s attempt to utilise the contested land was frustrated by the police who arrested his children.
A resident of Rubiri Cell, Nyamityobora Ward in Mbarara City South, who claims that he was illegally evicted from his land in Mbarara District, has been seeking justice for 14 years in vain.
Mr Badru Juuko Kayondo,61, says he purchased the 3.97-acre land in 2005 from Mr Juventine Ekoju. However, a year later, a group of people led by Mr Charles Atamba, turned up with a land title claiming ownership of the land and evicted him.
“I bought the land where I constructed a house. Years later, they came claiming that I’m trespassing,” Mr Juuko says.
Mr Juuko reveals that Mr Ekoju bought the land from Mr Manansi Modeng, who had purchased it from two brothers; Kahima and Karugaba of Rubiri Cell, who had earlier inherited it from their father Joseph Peesa.
However, Mr Juuko claims that land surveyors say the land title that Atamba and his group presented belongs to another piece of land in Rwebishuri – Kashaari.
According to the locus report that was issued in 2019 following Mr Juuko’s complaint at Mbarara High Court, Mr Sadiq Kigongo, a surveyor, who was meant to open boundaries for the disputed land title, told court that he was pressured to append his signature on the report by Criminal Investigations Department officers from Mbarara to accept that the title belonged to the disputed land in Nyamityobora.
The report reads that the title that was used to evict Mr Juuko reads Rwebishuri instead of Nyamityobora estate.
“I confirm that this land does not have a title. There are no mark stones for a particular place but different neighbouring plots have mark stones. This particular disputed plot is not part of Plot 8. Plot 8 is in a different area,” the report reads in part.
Mr Juuko, who was evicted on October 24, 2007, says his house was destroyed and plantation cut.
When contacted yesterday about the matter, Mr Atamba accused Mr Juuko of trying to steal his land.
“He is a liar, he keeps stressing everyone, and he must find things to make him busy. We have a lawyer he has a lawyer, the matter was concluded from the court and surveyors testified that the land exists. Let him appeal if he wants,” Mr Atamba says.
Earlier court ruling
In the September 10, 2020 court ruling, Justice Joyce Kavuma dismissed the case, saying the court cannot rely on the inconclusive findings. “The plaintiff should have brought a technical person to establish and adduce evidence that indeed the certificate of title was obtained through fraud. The evidence of PW5 could have had more weight if at all it was conclusive. He admitted that his investigations were never inconclusive as the file was recalled by the Resident State Attorney,” she said.
Efforts
On October 27, State minister for Lands, Mr Sam Mayanja, wrote a letter to the Mbarara RDC instructing that Juuko be reinstated on the land on grounds that he is bonafide occupant.
In a similar manner, on November 8, Maj Jimmy Katende, an administrative officer in the President’s office, issued a letter to the Regional Police Commander of Mbarara, the district police commander and minister of Lands, stating that Juuko never got justice.
Mr Juuko’s attempt to utilise the contested land was frustrated by the police who arrested his children.
“They destroyed my house, imprisoned my five children and accused them of living in Uganda illegally and later the charge was changed to criminal trespass. During arrest, they said to them that they are Rwandans who are not supposed to be in Uganda. Later, when we went to Mbarara Police Station we found out that they were charging them with criminal trespass,” he says.
