Serere land row: Court dismisses application on disputed 150 acres
Logs of trees which were destroyed and set on fire by officers from Serere District on the disputed piece of land in 2017. Photo | Courtesy
What you need to know:
- In 2022, then head of the Soroti High Court circuit, Justice Henry Peter Adonyo ruled that the land in question was rightfully owned by human rights defender Mr Moses Omiat and not the Serere District Local Government and four men.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application in which four men had applied to stop their eviction alongside the Serere District Local Government from a 150 acres of land in Serere District.
Justice Fredrick Engoda Ntende, who sat as a single judge, on October 8, dismissed the application for stay of execution orders because it could not disclose the loss the trespassers would incur if they were evicted. The trespassers are Joseph Atingu, Stephen Ejanyu, Okoja Sostine, and Calvin Olinga.
In 2022, then head of the Soroti High Court circuit, Justice Henry Peter Adonyo ruled that the land in question was rightfully owned by human rights defender Mr Moses Omiat and not the Serere District Local Government and the four men. Justice Adonyo went on to order the eviction of the Serere District Local Government and the four men. The court also ordered the trespassers to jointly compensate Mr Omiat with Shs320m
But being dissatisfied with the orders of the High Court, the four men ran to the Court of Appeal to, among others, seek a stay of the implementation of the orders of the High Court including not being evicted from the said land.
They argued that they would suffer substantial injury and loss should the High Court orders be implemented.
But last week Justice Ntende reasoned, “the four men failed to demonstrate to the court that they would suffer substantial injury in case they were to be evicted.”
He added: “The status quo is that Mr Omiat Moses is the lawful customary owner, and you are trespassers but you are requesting this court to grant you orders of stay so that you continue to trespass.”
Following the dismissal of the application by the four men, it now means that Mr Omiat can go ahead and evict them from his land. The ruling of the court also means that Mr Omiat can effect the order of compensation and force them to jointly pay him Shs320m.
In the same court, Justice Ntende said he would rule on a related application at a later stage that was filed Serere District Local Government which is also seeking orders to stay the implementation of the Soroti High Court orders including being evicted from the said 150 acres of land.
This matter arises from Civil Suit No 10 of 2016, in which Justice Adonyo ruled that Mr Omiat is the administrator of the estate of the late Amollo George William and is the lawful customary owner of the 150-acre piece of land situated in Kasilo.
This is not the first time that the four men and the Serere District Local Government lost an application to stay their eviction from the said land.
In 2022, Soroti High Court dismissed a similar application on the grounds that the applicants failed to satisfy conditions for the grant of the stay of execution.
Mr Omiat has since raised several complaints of how the said trespassers have continued to occupy his land and also gone ahead to cut trees to burn charcoal, and bricks coupled with assaulting them as the leadership in the district just look on.
