By Spy Uganda
News reaching our desk indicates that businessman and city landlord Godfrey Kirumira was summoned to appear at Seeta Police Station on Tuesday over allegations of forging a sales agreement for a land totaling 45-acres.
According to reports, Kirumira and several others allegedly forged a sales agreement for this land which is located in Namanve Industrial Park claimed by Minaz Karmali, the director of Liberty ICD Limited as the rightful owner.
“This office is investigating a case in which you are required to report to Police to assist in providing valuable information required in this matter,” states the summons against Kirumira ordering him to appear before D/IP William Malenge.
It is reported that Kirumira on October 30, 2021, at Kolo village in Mukono ‘knowingly and fraudulently” uttered a false document (Kibanja sales agreement) on block 113 plot 142 at Mukono High Court, purporting he had bought it from one Yokana Mukasa Galikwoleka, whereas not.
Genesis Of Summons
Police summoned Kirumira and the fellows after George Kintu, a lawyer instituted a forgery case against the businessmen under Criminal Registration Book (CRB) number CRB 157/2022. This was after a trespass case filed at Mukono High Court by Kirumira against Minaz Karmali, the director of Liberty ICD Limited.
In his complaint, the advocate from George Kintu and Company Advocates, says Kirumira alleged to have bought a Kibanja from Galikwoleka at Kolo LCI, Nantabulirwa Parish, Goma Division Mukono district on October 30, 2017.
However, a death certificate from the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) submitted at Mukono High Court reportedly indicates that Galikwoleka, a shamba boy working for the late Charles Kagenya, died on July 20, 1996.
Minaz Karmali Fumes Against Kirumira
The local investor says Liberty ICD has owned three freehold plots No. 1501, 1502, and 1425 on block 113 in Namanve for many years until recently ”when Kirumira used influential people in government, especially in the lands department to orchestrate dirty dealings on my land.”
He accuses Kirumira of illegally transferring a title on plot 393 block 113 into his name. The title was allegedly used as collateral by Capital Ventures International Limited (CVIL) for an sh400m loan against 85-acre-land.
Karmali says although Kirumira claims it is a Kibanja, there is no evidence of a landlord, payment of busulu, and its history, maintaining that it is a freehold land that he acquired in November 2010.
In Uganda, land has become such a precious factor in wealth creation and production with numerous transactions, transfers and interests being created on land. Ideally, the process of acquiring land should be straightforward, free of conflict and as stress-free as possible while protecting the rights of the interested party. However, because of abuse of land acquisition procedures and processes, issues of fraud and conflict over land have become prevalent within the sector so much so that the process of purchasing land has been described as ‘almost synonymous with conmen’.
