Museveni adviser turns the heat on State House lawyer

"Even after giving a ruling on her actions, the same lady (Ndyomugyenyi) disrespected court when she came out and said she will continue to do as she has been doing because she does not agree with the court ruling,’’ Mr Nadduli wrote citing a media report.

He added: "Since your office is the legal adviser of all government agencies, I request you to intervene in this matter and have the said officer disciplined.’’

Mr Nadduli's letter followed a court ruling that indicated that a legal officer at State House was not vested with powers under any law to contradict and or review a court order.

Justice Boniface Wamala quashed the order reasoning that Ms Ndyomugyenyi disguised the directive as a recommendation, which was unlawful.

“…the directive allowing Dr Ntwatwa Lule to use his land without any disturbance from other parties claiming interest unless court pronounces itself otherwise contradicts this ex-press order of court and is out rightly illegal,” the judge ruled.

Court records indicate that Ms Ndyomugyenyi convened a meeting, investigated a dispute over land, and came to her conclusion different from the findings reached in earlier decisions by court and that she also made a directive that was not based on any orders of the court.

On Saturday, a section of lawyers backed the court decision saying the High Court rightly ruled that Ms Ndyomugyenyi wrongly cleared a party, Dr Lule Ntwatwa, to take possession of law contrary to the earlier court orders.

“Ms Ndyomugyenyi is faulted for making a decision against a court order. The powers of the State house legal department is to advise on matters relating to the State House, but has no powers to contradict court decisions or determine land ownership,” Mr Brian Rubihayo, a lawyer, said.

According to Mr Rubihayo, the report by the State House lawyer ordered the Resident City Commis-sioner (RCC) and the DPC of Wandegeya to evict Pr Walugembe, a lawful Kibanja owner, with various court orders.

While addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, Mr Rubihayo dismissed media statements claiming that there are contradicting court decisions saying in the first case; Albinos Asiimwe, a tenant on the Kibanja, sued Ms Ndyomugyenyi and his case was dis-missed.

“There was no court order in favour of Asiimwe but for Pr Walugembe, there are several orders in his favor and court based on the same orders to fault Ms Ndyomugyenyi for interfering with matters already decided by the court. She is not in court and cannot act as such,” he said.

Court records show that on June 13, 2023, Ms Ndyomugyenyi authored a report in which she directed Dr Lule Nt-watwa, to be allowed to use his land without any disturbance from other parties claiming interest unless the court pronounces itself otherwise.

Records

Records show that the High Court in two cases of 2000 and 2017 decreed that the Kibanja in dispute belongs to Pr Walugembe.

In 2019, the court dismissed with costs a case in which Dr Ntwatwa and 99 others had sought to challenge Pr Walugembe’s interest in the said Kiban-ja, which was never appealed.

“The worst case scenario was in HC miscellaneous application number 1710 of 2021: Walugembe Daniel Vs Attorney General and eight others. The court issued an order of temporary injunction in favour of Walugem-be against the respondents restraining them from evicting or interfering with his utilization or development of the Kibanja,” the court observed.