By Andrew Irumba
The Omukama of Tooro Kingdom H.M Dr Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi 1V, is involved in a nasty property wrangle with one of his subjects only as identified as Sarah who rents his building/hostel in Fort Portal town, Kabarole district and has ordered bailiffs to evict her with her clinic she runs at the facility.
Spy Uganda has learnt that the property that has sparked off the bitter wrangle between Omukama Oyo and his subject is situated on Plots 32-38 Block 73, along Kasese-Fortportal road, in Fort Portal and houses a health facility called Sarah Medical Clinic.
According to bailiffs working on the instructions of Omukama Oyo, he claims that he wants Sarah medical Clinic evicted, such that he sets up an Ultra-Modern State-of-the-art 21st century Health facility befitting his subjects.
But Sarah argues that she does not have any tenancy agreement with Omukama Oyo because she rented the property from Tooro Kingdom, not Omukama Oyo.
The Real Truth Behind Sarah’s Impending Eviction From Facility Revealed
Independently, this website has investigated and learnt that although King Oyo and his team are fronting putting up a modern facility as the main reason for Sarah’s impending eviction, the actual truth is beneath their feet and wouldn’t like the public probably to know. “You see, since time imemorial, this property is owned by Tooro Kingdom, a King is simply a custodian of the properties of the people of Tooro, so now Oyo and the Queen mother want to change ownership from Tooro Kingdom into personal property of King Oyo so that they can embezzle the moneys there in, this is what they’ve been doing for most of the properties of the kingdom including Tea estates. Sarah has refused to pay money on Oyo’s account and instead paid on the kingdom’s, as she has always done, that’s the cracks of the matter,” South Division councilor Joram Bintamanya aka O’gwekyoma told this report on Monday.
He added; “Just check the receipts, she paid but they’re claiming in their letter that she paid on a wrong account but they will refund the money to her on humanitarian grounds, really?!” Joram wondered.
Meanwhile, the Omukama has since instructed his lawyers of Akampurira and Co. Advocates to undertake the eviction of Sarah and her Clinic from the property as soon as possible.
The directive was issued in a letter from Omukama Oyo’s lawyers which reads thus;
SARAH MEDICAL CLINIC
FORT PORTAL
RE: NOTICE TO QUIT PREMISES-BLOCK 73- PLOTS 32-38, KYEBAMBE ROAD, FORT PORTAL
We represent Dr. Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru of Fort Portal, the registered proprietor of the above premises, on whose instructions we address you as follows;
That we are informed that you occupied the above premises by virtue of a Tenancy Agreement between you and the former owners- Tooro Kingdom.
That the said agreement with Tooro Kingdom expired in the month of June 2019 and any purported payments of rent thereafter were clearly in error and had no legal basis.
That as a matter of fact, the said property was transferred into the names of Dr. Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru on the 21st day of December 2018, a fact which was brought to your attention.
That upon change of ownership and expiry of your tenancy agreement you were advised to quit the premises but you have stubbornly refused or ignored our Client’s notices.
That as a result of your conduct, our client has not been able to implement a project designed to set up a specialized Health Facility for the benefit of the entire Community within Tooro Kingdom. Our Client finds your conduct totally illegal and unacceptable.
Our client’s instructions are to demand that you vacate the premises immediately and deliver vacant possession to our client’s appointed agents Reliable Auctioneers and Court Bailiffs but in any event, not later than 16th February, 2020 without fail.
That in the event that any rent has been erroneously paid to the former owners, you will be refunded the same to mitigate your loss on humanitarian grounds upon proof of such payments and reconciliation of accounts.
By copy of this letter, Reliable Auctioneers and Court Bailiffs are instructed to effect eviction on due date if you do not comply with this demand. We hope you will comply with this demand to avoid unnecessary embarrassment likely to result from your conduct.”
According to documents seen by this reporter, Sarah Medical Clinic on July 22, 2019 paid Shs8,213,000 as rent for the months of January to June 2020 and was given a receipt by Tooro Kingdom.
However, we have learnt that what annoyed Omukama Oyo was Sarah Medical Clinic paying rent to Tooro Kingdom’s account, instead of depositing it on his account, since ownership of the property changed into his names. It should be noted that there is a long running internal wrangle between the Royal Family over properties owned owned by Tooro Kingdom as a cultural institution and those owned by the Omukama.
Indeed the Omukama Oyo’s Prime Minister, in a letter dated July 20th, 2019, written by Tom Mugarra, the Administrative Officer, Tooro Kingdom, had written to Sarah Medical Clinic to pay rent from January to June 2020 upfront, so as to facilitate the impending tour of Tooro Counties by the Omukama.
However, our efforts to secure a comment from Tooro Kingdom were fruitless because the Omukama’s spokesperson couldn’t be reached through his known phone contacts.
Watch the space for more on this story….
