By Andrew Irumba
The wrangling over ownership of a 366-acre land held by National Social Security Fund (NSSF) at Temangalo in Wakiso District, has taken a new twist after businessman Amos Nzeyi has been accused of forging numerous documents.
Retired banker Mr Abbas Kajoba Mawanda who is said to have sold the land to Mr Nzeyi while appearing before the commission on Wednesday, July 29 described several sale agreements for the purchase of 366 acres of land in Temangalo, application for re-entry and subdivision presented by Mr Nzeyi as ‘forgery’.
He told the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led Commission of inquiry into land matters that he the 366 acre land to Mr Nzeyi at once and not in phases as he stated.
“I was shocked this morning to see an agreement showing the sale of 60 acres purportedly signed by me but the signature is not really mine. I sold Nzeyi one title of 366 acres and I have never sold to him in pieces. I doubt the sale agreement of 60 acres with Nzeyi because I did only one agreement for the whole land,” Mr Mawanda testified.
Mr Mawanda appeared before the land probe following Mr Nzeyi’s testimony in which he informed the commission that he purchased it from Mr Mawanda, the former managing director of Uganda Development Bank.
Mr Nzeyi explained that he took interest in the dispute in 1988 with a view of establishing a dairy farm but acquired it in phases from Mr Mawanda whom he knew in 1975.
Evidence before the land inquiry shows that at the time Mr Nzeyi acquired the land in dispute, the family of Muhammad Hassanali Moosa had a running lease granted by the deceased businessman, lessor Daniel Mugwanya.
It is alleged that the land was registered in the names of M/s Temangalo Tea Estate, a company owned by the family Muhammad Hassanali Moosa before they were expelled by the Iddi Amin regime.
But Mr Nzeyi said that any questions can best be answered by Mr Mawanda and his former lawyers of M/s Sebalu and Lule whom he chose due to their reputation and knowledge about land in Buganda.
It is alleged that Mr Nzeyi fraudulently acquired and occupied the disputed land on Block 296 Plot 20 in Busiro in 1993 while it was registered in the names of M/s Temangalo Tea Estate, a company owned by the family Muhammad Hassanali Moosa before they were expelled by the Iddi Amin regime.
Evidence presented before the land probe shows that Mr Nzeyi sold the land to NSSF in 2009 amid ongoing proprietorship disputes.
Mr Mawanda explained that he bought the said land from his in-laws after the death of his father-in-law in 1983, late Haji Ahmed Musajjatagayibwa Ssekulima when they wanted money to pay school fees and other necessities.
“My mother-in-law told me that Mr Sekulima was allocated that land by government in 1981 and that there was a little lease left. And when the title comes, the mailo interest owner would take over the land. I approached Kato Mugwanya the Mailo landowner and sold me the land,” Mr Mawanda added.
He said that the land was bushy with big old trees but he did nothing on the land until he sold and transferred it to his friend Mr Nzeyi.
Meanwhile, the commission has directed that Mr Nzeyi appear and clarify on his evidence in the presence of Mr Mawanda on a date to be decided.
Sitting at the National Archives and Records Center at Wandegeya, the Commission is inquiring into the law, processes and procedures by which land is administered and registered.
