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KAMPALA

Two warring parties are eyeing former president Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa as their key witness in a land wrangle.

One of the parties is Binaisa’s own daughter Lena Nakalema Binaisa, who is battling a group of kibanja holders (squatters) over a 50.4-acre plot of land located on Mutundwe Hill in the suburbs of Kampala.

But each party argues that presenting Mr Binaisa, who was Uganda’s president for 11 months between June 1979 and May 1980, is the only way to do justice to their case. They both list him as a witness.

The former president reportedly bought the disputed land way back in 1969 from Mr Stanley Kitaka Kisingiri, now deceased. He however did not evict the few squatters who occupied the land at the time.

The squatters allegedly colluded with the area local council chairman Francis Muwonge and allowed more 42 people to settle on the land and put up permanent homes and makeshift structures.

However, on December 12, 2005, the ageing Binaisa is said to have legally transferred the land to his daughter Nakalema who had since developed plans to convert it into a modern recreation centre.

On April 5 this year, Ms Nakalema petitioned the High Court Land Division, seeking a court order to evict all the squatters and have their structures demolished.
Her intention was to transform the land into Mutundwe Park, Kampala - an envisaged urban village with a residential section, botanical gardens, shopping centre, commercial science park, a sports and leisure area, a civic area for schools and a church.

Ms Nakalema, who lists her father as her main witness, says in the petition she filed through Nyanzi, Kiboneka and Mbabazi Advocates that the “land is now littered with illegal structures comprising shacks or makeshift houses made of mud and wattle, half bricks, timber and papyrus reed that have neither architectural drawings, plans nor approved by relevant authorities.

“The illegal structures...constitute a nuisance or waste of land… (Nakalema) cannot economically and conveniently develop her land as per plan or put it to cost-effective use as a real estate developer,” reads the petition in court. She contends that the families are encroaching on her land.

However, the alleged encroachers, through Kasozi, Omongole & Co. Advocates, have filed a “third party notice” in which they want Mr Binaisa to come to their defence in the suit by his daughter.

The defendants include three relatives of the late Kisingiri: Omumbejja Muggale Kisingiri, Irene Nabawanuka Kisingiri and Christopher Mubiru Kisingiri, and two others Katabalwa Nsubuga Salongo and one only identified as Lwanga.
They claim that by the time of Kisingiri’s death, Mr Binaisa had boundary issues to sort out to take care of their interests on the land.

They deny the label that they are trespassers on the land on grounds that Mr Binaisa is aware of their existence and the ongoing inquiries on the land.
“At all material times, you (Binaisa) have been requested to open up boundaries of the land to ascertain and verify the points under query of the survey at the time when you were still registered proprietor but chose to transfer the land to (Nakalema) without resolving the matter,” they claim.

The defendants gave Mr Binaisa 15 days to file a defence. “In default, you will be deemed to admit the liability of any decree passes against the defendants and your own liability to contribute or indemnify the extent herein claimed.”

It is not clear which side the former president is likely to support in the case, as no defence on behalf of the alleged encroachers had been filed by press time. But Ms Nakalema states that she has been losing Shs5 million per acre monthly because of the presence of the “encroachers”, money she intends to claim from them together with the costs of the suit in case she wins the court case.

She contends the continued stay of the kibanja holders amounts to waste of land, expropriation of her property and deprivation of her right to own, use and enjoy her property. The case is yet to be fixed for hearing.