NAGRC opposes Shs76b pay to Otafiire for Njeru land

NAGRC&DB, which runs the stock farm on behalf of the government, disputes the Bush War general’s claims to the land. It says the person who purportedly sold Minister Otafiire the 100 acres has no legal claim to any land in the said area.
Ms Agaba Muhairwe and Company Advocates, the lawyers representing NAGRC&DB, argue in a January 24 letter, a copy of which Monitor has seen, that Mr Lule’s claims to the land were made on the basis of several fraudulent acts. These, the lawyers add, include forgeries of court orders and judges’ signatures.
“The claim by Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire’s interest emanates from an illegal entry on the Certificate of Title on Block 295 Plot 4. It is an established fact in law that legal interests cannot arise from an illegality,” the letter reads in part.
NAGRC&DB also contends that Gen Otafiire neither paid for the land nor attached a valuation report to justify his demands.
“Hon Kahinda Otafiire’s claim for $19,694,539 is baseless. He has not attached a valuation report to establish the value of the land to support his compensation claim of $19,694,539. Moreover, as per his land sale agreement, he did not pay consideration and, therefore, a compensation claim cannot arise,” the letter reads in part.

The document argues that the purported sell agreement indicates that Gen Otafiire facilitated Lule’s acquisition of a certificate of title.
“In his purported sale agreement, there is no consideration (purchase price) for the said land. Under Clause 1 of the said agreement, it reads in part: ‘In consideration of the financing and due deligence (sic) by the purchaser in securing the certificate of title, the vendor hereby acknowledges the same and transfers 100 acres of the said land to the purchaser…That the purchaser shall in consideration of the said land further cater for and aid the facilitation and obtainment of the certificate of title,’” the document further reads.

Notice
The letter was in response to a December 22, 2023 letter in which the Attorney General informed NAGRC&DB that Gen Otafiire had put the government on notice. It proceeded to reveal that the Internal Affairs minister intended to sue the government over NAGRC&DB’s refusal to vacate the land, which he claimed to have bought on August 8, 2014.
“The Attorney General’s Chambers is in receipt of a demand notice dated December 15, 2023, from Ahamya Associates & Advocates acting on behalf of their client, Maj General Kahinda Otafiire demanding payment of $19,694,530,” the Attorney General wrote.

According to the letter, the minister claimed that NAGRC&DB’s refusal to vacate the land had caused him financial loss.
“The intending plaintiff, inter alia, alleges that he is the registered proprietor of the suit land measuring 100 acres, which the stock farm has since 2017 refused to vacate, thereby causing him a consolidated loss of $19, 694,530,” the letter also discloses.
NAGRC&DB was requested to furnish the Attorney General with information related to the ownership of the land to enable him to “adequately respond” to the intended suit.

False claims?
Information obtained by Monitor indicates that Gen Otafiire’s notice to the Attorney General came two days after he had, through the same law firm, issued NAGRC&DB with a notice of eviction. The minister then demanded compensation arising out of being denied use of the said land.
In their response, NAGRC&DB argues that Christopher Lule and the late Fredrick Kato Lukwajju obtained letters of administration from the courts in Jinja and Kampala to administer the estates of late Augustini Seruwo and the late Enoka Sebowa respectively. They then used the letters of administration to file a joint suit in the land division of the High Court.

The two claiming to be bonafide occupants of Block 295 plots 3 and 4 respectively, sought orders to be registered on the certificates of title as proprietors of the land, but the application was dismissed with costs.
In dismissing the cost on December 8, 2010, Justice Joseph Mulangira noted that the registered proprietor of Block 295 plots 3 and 4 were not part of the suit; that the issues that the applicants had raised in the suit were contentious and, therefore, required an investigation; that they did not attach a copy of an alleged Buganda Lukiiko consent judgement from which their interest in the suit land derived and; that they were not bonafide occupants within the meaning of the constitution and the land Act.

Consequences
It also emerged that the two had earlier obtained court orders purportedly signed by Justice Opio Aweri. The court document instructed the registrar of titles to cancel the names of the registered proprietors on land comprising Kyaggwe Block 295 Plots 3 and 4. They were to be replaced with the names of Fredrick Kato Lukwajju in Plot No. 3 and that of Christopher Lule in Plot No. 4.
The July 30, 2010 order purportedly also directed the cancelation of all leases and subleases on land comprising Kyaggwe Block 295, Plot Numbers 3, 4 and 5.

The order which bore the same registration number, 52 of 2010, and the same parties as was the genuine case heard by Justice Mulangira dragged in Plot 5, which had never been part of the suit. The forged court orders were followed by a forged October 29, 2010 letter also purportedly signed by Justice Opio Aweri, directing the commissioner of Land Registration to cancel existing leases on the titles and instead issue them to Christopher Lule and Fredrick Kato Lukwajju. Again on February 28, 2011, Fredrick Kato Lukwajju, through his lawyers, wrote to the Registrar of Titles requesting him to be registered on the title of Plot 3 on grounds that Elizabeth Nantenza Nabeta, the registered proprietor, had renounced her interest in the land.

It was on the basis of those forged court orders that the Land Office in Mukono cancelled all the government’s leases and subleases and made entries into the land.

Reversals
On October 20, 2010, Ms Opifeni Anguandia, the assistant registrar at Land Division confirmed that the purported court orders of July 30, 2010 and August 20, 2010 were forged. Pursuant to that, on October 27, 2010, Ms Sarah Kulata Basangwa, the acting commissioner of Land registration, wrote to the registrar of titles Mukono Lands Office directing that the forged orders are not acted on.

Fredrick Kato Lukwajju and Christopher Lule also wrote to the registrar of titles Mukono Land Office on April 26, 2012 informing them about the forged court orders.
“For the beneficiaries of the forged court orders to have denied them in writing indicates that a 3rd interested party must have been behind the issuance of those forged letters. Who could that have been?” reads a document from NAGRC&DB.

Now NAGRC&DB in its letter, which is copied to the State Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mr Bright Rwamirama, says it can only vacate the land that Gen Otafiire is claiming if he compensates the government.
“Assuming that he obtained a good legal interest in the land, he cannot forcefully evict the government from the land without compensation. This is because his interest therein is subject to the interest of the government… (NAGRC&DB) can only be evicted after being compensated. A lawful occupant is entitled to enjoy security of occupancy under the law,” the advocates say. 

Gen Otafiire speaks out 

The government has an interest in the said land, through Njeru Stock Farm first under a sublease from Njeru Town Council and later as a lawful occupant and has been in physical possession of the land since 1967 to date with a running lease that expires in 2047. Gen Otafiire, however, insists that NAGRC&DB has no running lease.
“They do not have a running lease. The land was re-entered and their (NAGRC&DB) lease lapsed. There are reports of investigations into the said land. Look for those reports and read them,” he insisted.

Gen Otafiire said the land in question has been the subject of investigations by the Inspectorate of Government and the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led commission of inquiry into land matters. The Internal Affairs minister told this publication that both the ombudsman and the commission heard that the owners had re-entered the land, which they had earlier leased to Njeru Town Council because the Council had not paid the landlord ground rent. Monitor could not independently verify the minister’s claims.