NFA, businessman battle for Masaka City forest land
A section of Kumbu Forest Reserve in Kijjabwemi, a suburb of Masaka City. PHOTO | AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA
What you need to know:
- The contested land, located in Kijjabwemi Cell, a Masaka City suburb, has been at the center of a heated court battle.
A long-standing dispute over the ownership of Masaka City's Kumbu Forest Reserve has taken a new turn, pitting a businessman against the National Forest Authority (NFA).
The contested land, located in Kijjabwemi Cell, a Masaka City suburb, has been at the center of a heated court battle.
According to court records, the disputed land comprises Folio 40 Plot 3, Plot 8, 5B, and 7, among others, registered in the name of Jimmy Lutaya. The land was previously home to Vi Agroforestry Uganda offices, a primary school, residential houses, and a hides and skin factory.
The businessman who claim to have secured land from Masaka District land board dragged NFA to court over trespass and malicious damage to property among other charges after NFA officials stormed their land about five years ago and confiscated equipment they were using to clear the land.
While appearing before Masaka chief magistrate, Aloysius Natwijuka Baryeza last week, one of NFA’s witnesses John Dissi, a Geographical Interpreter System (GIS) expert told the court that on cross-checking the coordinates of the suit land he discovered that it was lying in Kumbu North Forest Reserve.
Mr Dissi again told the court on Monday that the forest reserve (Kumbu North) was gazzetted as a peri-urban forest reserve to provide firewood to the city dwellers and to protect the neighbouring wetlands as buffer zones.
“People in several parts of the country have encroached on forest reserves and they have gone ahead to secure land titles, over 100 titles were irregularly issued to people in wetlands and NFA is working closely with the line ministry to ensure that these titles are cancelled, and the process is ongoing,” he added.
During cross-examination, the counsel for the applicants, Marufu Waduka, asked Dissi if he was aware that the suit land had been developed with several buildings and nothing on the ground could show that it extends into a forest reserve as they claim.
Mr Waduka told the court that the contested piece of land has been used and transferred (owned) by different people since 1947 wondering how the forestry authority could claim that such a place is a forest reserve without any single tree since the entire area is covered by different structures.
Mr Dissi however said it’s not necessarily that a forest reserve should have trees, adding that it (forest reserve) is sometimes land set aside for forest expansion, and it can be a grassland, woodland, or a wetland.
The defence lawyer, Judith Ndagijje told the court that they have more witnesses to present and asked for an adjournment.
The presiding magistrate Natwijuka adjourned the matter to January 29, 2025, for a locus visit. Kumbu Forest Reserve is adjacent to Nabajjuzi swamp, which provides piped water serving Masaka City and its environs. There is heightened fear that the continued encroachment on the forest and destruction of the swamp will soon cause a water crisis in the area.
