There are unscrupulous individuals at the Buganda Land Board (BLB) who have resorted to blackmail and mudslinging after the Court of Appeal stopped the cancellation of tycoon Hamis Kiggundu’s titles for land he bought in Kigo, off Entebbe Road.
It should noted that the Uganda Land Commission in September this year cancelled Ham’s titles for the land under contention, after the BLB claimed that the said land belongs to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II.
Following the said cancellation, Ham, through his lawyers of Muwema & Co. Advocates, filed Civil Appeal No. 085 of 2022, against Kabaka Mutebi and the Registrar Uganda Land Commission, contesting the Commission’s decision to cancel the land titles, which prompted the Court of Appeal to halt the cancellation and issue Orders to the effect that the Uganda Land Board’s decision is null and avoid.
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However, following this court of Appeal Order, there are some officials at the BLB who have started a smear campaign against Ham, portraying him as a person waging war against Kabaka Mutebi, yet he is Muganda and a subject of the Kabaka.
It should however be noted that Ham’s appeal against a decision to cancel his titles should not be mistaken for dragging Kabaka Mutebi to court, because all he seeks to securing and safeguarding his property.
As such, the businessman contends that BLB officials should desist from misusing the name of Kabaka Mutebi in pursuing their selfish interests.
We have since established that fraudsters at the BLB spearheaded by Bashir Juma Kizito, are misusing the Kabaka’s name to their advantage as a shield to blackmail and assassinate the character and person of Hamis Kiggundu.
Genesis Of Matter
It all started in September 2022, when the Commissioner for Lands ordered for the cancellation of Four titles of Kigo Land belonging to Ham, which he bought through his company Kiham Enterprises.
The Commissioner based on a complainant’s minority report, which contradicted the findings of the Comprehensive Joint Survey report made by the technical team commissioned by the Land Disputes Tribunal.
It is clear that the Joint Survey team which was composed of staff from the Lands Department, Surveys and Mapping, Makerere University, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Surveyors of both the parties, concluded that Ham’s Freehold land titles are on public land.
It was however not clear on what basis the minority report drafted by the complainant, Bashir Juma Kizito, could find otherwise, and whether this report was intended to serve the interests of the truth or that of the complaint.
Ham hence cited bias in the matter and in October 2022, Kiham Enterprises Ltd, through its lawyers, Muwema and Co. Advocates, appealed to the Land Division of the High Court against the decision of the Commissioner Land Registration, seeking to stop the cancellation of its freehold titles in Kyadondo Block 275 plots: 23974, 23975, 23976 and 23977 at Kigo.
The said titles were ordered to be canceled on September 6, 2022 unless an appeal is filed within 60 days from the date of the decision which were lapsing on November 4, 2022.
On November 03, 2022 Kiham Enterprises Ltd’s lawyer Tomusange Anthony and the Commissioner Land Registration’s lawyer Moses Ssekito, executed a consent, which the Court relied on to stop the office of the Commissioner Land Registration from canceling Kiham Enterprises Ltd’s aforementioned titles.
Dissatisfied by the Court decision, the BLB fraudsters on November 10, 2022 resorted to blackmailing Ham and assassinating Ham’s character through using Buganda-owned media platforms and the name of Kabaka Mutebi on social media, alongside Ham’s Memorandum of Appeal which arose from the Decision and Orders of the Commissioner Land Registration, delivered by Mr. Mugaino Baker on September 6th, 2022 at Kampala.
They claimed that Ham had sued the Kabaka, yet in actual sense he (Ham) had defended himself against the claims filed against him by BLB.
It is for that matter that the businessman, through his lawyers, contends that his appeal against a decision to cancel his land titles should not be mistaken for dragging the Kabaka to court.
To that effect, his lawyers assert that BLB should desist from misusing the name of Kabaka Mutebi in pursuing their selfish interests and instead seek to see justice done, just as the Court of Appeal has done.
One wonders if these are the kind of so-called high moral values and cultural norms that we should be teaching our future generations.
