Prime
Mao seeks Museveni hand in Kiruhura land row
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Norbert Mao and President Museveni. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Mr Mao in an August 21 letter, seen by this publication, informed Mr Museveni that his directive, issued last year, of evicting the encroachers on this land has never been implemented and wondered why the security agencies who must put such a directive in place are the ones violating it.
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Norbert Mao, has petitioned President Museveni, asking him to directly intervene and restore the evicted family of the former Bishop of East Ankole, Kosiya Shalita, on their land in Kiruhura District.
Mr Mao in an August 21 letter, seen by this publication, informed Mr Museveni that his directive, issued last year, of evicting the encroachers on this land has never been implemented and wondered why the security agencies who must put such a directive in place are the ones violating it.
“Based on the clear pronouncements of the court that the land in question belongs to the Shalita family, you issued clear directives that the trespassers should be evicted, that the police and army officers that acted forcefully in contempt of court should be brought to book and disciplined and prosecuted, that the title that was wrongfully cancelled should be reinstated and that the Lands officers involved should be subjected to disciplinary proceedings,” the letter reads in part.
The letter, which was also copied in to the Bishop Shalita family, the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka and the Inspector General of Police Abbas Byakagaba added: “To date these directives you issued, which were based on extensive consultations, investigations and the input of the Attorney General, have not been implemented. The Shalita family is concerned that the Ugandan State is unable or unwilling to enforce a long-standing court decision and instead looks on as members of our security forces superintend over contempt of court.”
Last December, this publication reported about this directive where Mr Museveni directed the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr Martin Okoth Ochola, to, with immediate effect, evict Kajundira’s family and prosecute police and army officers who reinstated them illegally and ministry of Lands officials who processed for them titles illegally.
Mr Museveni noted that Kajundira’s family was evicted from the land following numerous courts’ rulings but with support from some police and army officers, they forcefully reoccupied the land which is contrary to judgments.
“Disciplinary action should also be taken against the Police and Army officers who facilitated the illegal reoccupation of the land. All the other persons involved should be prosecuted,” he directed.
This followed decades of protracted legal, physical and emotional battles between two conflicting families of Bishop Shalita and Christopher Kajundira over the ownership of more than 640 acres of land in Omukyeera, Kimomo in Kikatsi Sub-county in Nyabushozi County, Kiruhura. President Museveni issued a directive on November 8, 2023.
Mr Mao has now asked the President to declare the entire land a crime scene and all current occupants be evicted in order to restore confidence in judicial orders.
He told Monitor, in an interview yesterday, that the law should be respected.
“A court decision is a court decision, it is not negotiable. I want it to be respected,” Mr Mao added.
Background
In early 2022, the family of Late Kajundira under the command of his son Godfrey Muhoozi. Kajundira allegedly forcefully reoccupied the land, an action Museveni in the letter said was illegal.
Maj Muhoozi later filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal under Reference: (Miscellaneous Application No 354 of 2022), which sought to reverse the old verdict of the high court that had evicted his father, family and kin.
This was arising from numerous miscellaneous Applications like; number 172 of 2022, 004 of 2022, 002 of 1996, and 076 of 1990, where the Shalita family had consistently emerged victorious. The Court of Appeal dismissed their application and instead asked them (Kajundira Family) to vacate the land.
This publication has seen a July 17 letter, authored by the AG Kiwanuka, to the lands minister Judith Nabakooba where he guided the latter to cancel the Certificates of Titles that was issued to Kajundira family.
“The dispute relating to the ownership of the land was finally determined in Mbarara Civil Appeal No. 76 of 1990. That decision was confirmed by three other court decisions, including High Court Application No. 02 of 1996 that confirmed that the evidence and the law clearly indicated that the land belongs to Bishop Shalita,” the letter reads in part.
