State House Anti-Corruption Unit in liaison with Uganda Police on Monday arraigned Kyagaba Charles, an alleged notorious land fraudster in Wakiso district, at the Chief Magistrates Court in Entebbe on charges of malicious damage to property.
Kyagaba and three others still at large, unlawfully destroyed a house belonging to Kyomuhangi Margaret claiming that she had built it in his Kibanja.
It is further alleged that Kyagaba has been involved in many fraudulent land transactions in the areas of Entebbe.
He was remanded till September 19, 2022.
Uganda Radio Network (URN) reported in 2021 that Kyagaba had become a dominant name in Wakiso and Kampala land wrangles.
“Every working day, people from all walks of life gather at the Land Protection Police Unit in Kibuli waiting to lodge or follow up on complaints of their land being grabbed by mysterious claimants. With a tone of frustration, they endure lengthy queues on rainy and sunny days, in pursuit of justice. But for all, there is a common name pushing them into a state of being landless; Charles Kyagaba, a name that is featured in land wrangles dating as back as 2001,” URN reported in October 2021.
After the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola ordered a comprehensive investigation against Kyagaba, it emerged that Kyagaba would use mysterious people to open cases at police stations, secure court injunctions and file lawsuits on land that has been or is being sold.
He would then create ‘ghost’ tenants commonly known as Bibanja holders.
“Kyagaba is a mercenary and has entrenched security and court systems. There is no police station where you can report him and he gets arrested. He even laughs at us who report him. Before grabbing two more acres from us, he called me and asked me to give him half an acre so that he could leave us. We refused and he warned us that he was to take it for free. Indeed, he has succeeded because the courts have not helped us,” Hannington Kizito, one of the numerous victims, told URN.
Records show that all cases of criminal trespass, malicious damage to property, and theft that were filed against him have failed to succeed.
CID also has several files of people accusing him of grievous harm, and destruction of property but those cases have not gone beyond past DPP’s perusal, according to URN.
Kyagaba contested twice for the Busiro South Parliamentary seat on the Democratic Party ticket but lost both in 2011 and 2016.