The Queen Mother of Tooro Kingdom, Her Royal Highness, Best Kemigisa has denied claims that she has illegally grabbed land and evicted people, instead accusing her in-laws of harboring hostility against her inheritance of the late husband’s property.
Her Royal Highness Best Kemigisa labelled some of her in-laws as ‘monsters’ who have made it their mission to torment her by tarnishing her name in the press.
She made the statements on Monday while appearing before the Justine Catherine Bamugemerere led Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters to respond to allegations against her regarding land grabbing in Tooro.
Recently, the Commission received complaints from three Princes of Tooro kingdom who are brothers to the former King of Tooro, Patrick Mathew Kaboyo Olimi who died in 1995. The three complainants; Prince Mujogya, Prince Mugenyi Jimmy and Prince Bazil Mirembe claim that land on which they had hereditary interests was sold by the Queen Monther to government.
In his submissions to the Commission weeks ago, Prince Mujogya said that Patrick Kaboyo Olimi was only holding the land as a trustee and that each of them was entitled to a share.
“According to them, it was erroneous for you to assume that this was property belonging to Kaboyo, in disregard of their entitlements,” the Counsel to the Commission, Ebert Byenkya asked the Queen Mother.
But she denied the claims and instead shed tears while explaining how Mujogya and the other in-laws including a one Mable Komuntale have been fighting her ever since her husband died.
“I am not surprised to hear such allegations. These are the people who didn’t want me and the children to get my late husband’s property. These people are monsters, they are not building the kingdom but destroying it,” Best Kemigisa told the Commission.
“They claimed that my late husband had no land. They said he only owned a shirt [shedding tears]. They fought me even when I had young children, and when one of my children was bed ridden in London suffering from Leukaemia. I had to fly in and out of Uganda to attend court. It was tormenting,” she said.
She went ahead to refer to a case filed against Mable Komuntale in the High Court in 1996 over the same dispute which she won. The Queen Mother insists that the land in question was privately owned by her husband and that she accordingly transfered rights into her names in 1997.
“Where were these people then? Why is it that nobody appealed the judgement by High Court till to date? Some of my in-laws go around tarnishing my name that I have been stealing kingdom land but this is not true,” she said.
The Commission questioned the Queen Mother whether or not she has interested herself in the customary law of the kingdom given that her husband was not any ordinary man but a King. She was further pressed about the so-called ‘Kyebambe Register’ which some of the complainants claim spells out the properties of the fallen King and those entitled to inheritance.
“I have no idea about that register and I have never heard of it. I only know what happened after I married my husband”.
The Commission furnished her with letters purportedly authored by her husband in which he named Mujogya and the others as the heirs to the Kamurasi tea estates. Asked whether she had knowledge of the letter or whether she acknowledged that the handwriting was indeed that of Patrick Kaboyo Olimi, Kemigisa said the letters weren’t authentic.
She explained that the upheaval that Tooro kingdom underwent including the burning and looting of the Palace, occasioned chaos in the Kingdom.
Lady Justice, Catherine Bamugemereire asked the Queen Mother about the issue of transparency in the manner the Kingdom executes its duties as well as how she intends to solve the existing impasse since she has a duty to unite the kingdom.
“You feel disappointed, they feel deprived. How can we mend that? In this country, you are viewed as a cultural leader. The people of Tooro would like to see reconciliation. Don’t you agree that we should not let things keep this way?” asked Justice Bamugemereire.
The Queen Mother asked that Mujogya and the other in-laws apologize to her for all the harm they have caused her in the media.
She was asked to provide to the Commission relevant documents written and signed by the late King of Tooro. The Commission has also promised to sit with the two conflicting sides in a private session so as to reach an amicable solution.