By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has suffered a big blow after court ruled in favor of the former commissioner of Survey and Mapping on disputed land located in Wakiso District.
The court upheld the evidence presented, revealing that the land registered under FRV 420 FOLIO 13 block 269, comprising Plots 323, 274, and 1322, was never properly integrated into the system.
This discrepancy arose because the deed plans necessary for vectorization were never issued by the commissioner’s office and that the land title contained three deed plans without complying with the legal requirement for survey instructions.
This case was presided over by Makindye Grade I Magistrate Arinaitwa Elisha, who ultimately dismissed the charges against the accused individuals including; Nakanwagi Daphine, Lubowa Mohammed Kityo, Namanya Betty, Onyango Patrick and Bogere Moses who were acquitted of the allegations, as the court determined there was no case to answer.
The accused were initially charged with fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title, as outlined in section 190(1) of the Registration of the Titles Act 230 laws of Uganda. However, the court found that their certificate of title was the first to be entered into the system.
Furthermore, the accused individuals were cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the acquisition of the certificate of title, therefore confirmed as the rightful owners of the disputed land.
The Lubowa housing project saga came into limelight in 2023, when the former NSSF managing director, Richard Byarugaba, was being investigated on the alleged mismanagement of NSSF funds.
According to court documents, NSSF purchased the 565 acres of land at Lubowa in 2003 to develop a housing estate comprising 2,741 housing units and related amenities.
However, while appearing before the parliamentary committee led by Mbarara City South MP, Mwine Mpaka, it was discovered that the housing project only had 303 units complete with no demand for them yet each house cost sh3b.
The corruption and the funds misuse later saw the Minister of Gender, Labour & Social Development, Betty Amongi sack Byarugaba whose contract expired at the end of November 2023.
Byarugaba was later replaced by his former deputy, Patrick Ayota who was appointed the new MD after his contract as the deputy ED expired around the same time as his former boss.
The development came after a long fight that saw Byarugaba accuse his boss (Amongi who’s Appointing Authority) of an attempt to fraudulently take Ugx 6billion out of NSSF while on there other hand Amongi accused Byarugaba of refusing the quit office despite having clocked the retirement age.
