Makindye Chief Magistrates Court has dismissed a case in which the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) had sued individuals for fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title contrary to section 190(1) of the registration of the Titles Act 230 laws of Uganda.
The accused persons include Lubowa Mohammed Kityo, Moses Bogere, Betty Namanya, Daphine Nakanwagi and Patrick Onyango.
In his ruling dated April 17, 2024, Makindye Grade I Magistrate, Arinaitwa Elisha, cited several inconsistencies in witness testimonies which he said tainted the evidence and cast suspicion on the witnesses.
“I have properly examined evidence on record. My finding is surely that this evidence has left doubt in my mind. The case Woolmington V DPP 1935 AC 462 which has been adopted by all courts across the divide practising common law, is instructive that any doubt must be resolved in favour of the accused. I resolve this doubt in favour of the accused,” ruled Arinaitwa.
He added: “Most of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution was manifestly unreliable and no reasonable tribunal acting on such evidence would safely convict the accused persons.”
He said the court found merit in the evidence given by the former commissioner survey and mapping that the land FRV 420 FOLIO 13 block 269 Plots 323, 274, 1322 was never vectorized in the system for the reason that the deed plans were never issued by his office and that the land title has three deed plans without instructions to survey the land as required by law.
The court also found that the accused persons’ certificate of title was the first to be registered in the system.
Magistrate Arinaitwa thus dismissed the case and acquitted the accused persons.
“For these reasons that I have laboured to explain above and other many reasons manifestly on record, I find no case against all the accused persons and I acquit them forthwith,” he ruled.
Background of the case
The land in question is in Kyadondo block 269, plots 3234, 3236, 3237, 3238, 3239 and 3240 at Lubowa in Wakiso District.
NSSF has been holding the freehold titles with succession in title emanating from crown land grant number 9854 of approximately 834.6 acres where the original grantee was Captain Hill in 1911 and crown land grant number 8843 in respect of land described as Lweza, Lubowa and Naziba of approximately 708.8 acres where the original owner was a one Ormsby.
Documents filed in court indicate that NSSF purchased the 565 acres of land at Lubowa in 2003 to develop a housing estate comprising 2,741 housing units and related amenities.
Last year, MPs probing the alleged mismanagement of NSSF money grilled former Managing Director Richard Byarugaba, about the Lubowa Housing Project worth $62m.
The committee said the project is supposed to have 2700 lifestyle complex housing units but only 303 units are complete with no demand for them yet each house cost Shs3bn.
In a November 7, 2023, letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Jane France Abodo, the family of late Prince Suuna Kiweewa led by Abdulatiff Nakalaali, argued that the land was fraudulently migrated from a private mailo land tenure system to freehold in 1906 and 1911 without following the due legal process.
Find the full ruling here