Seven confess to encroaching on Kayanja’s family land

COURT | LAND | KAYANJA 

KAMPALA - Seven men have admitted to encroaching on land belonging to the father of Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral, and they have resorted to an out-of-court settlement. 

The land, located on Block 115 Plot 6, falls in three villages of Masooli, Buyinja and Kiwalimu in Kasangati town council, Wakiso district. 

The land belongs to the family of the late Rev. John Walakira, who was the father of Kayanja and the Rt. Rev. John Ssentamu, the former Archbishop of York in England. 

Ssentamu is the customary heir of Rev. Walakira. 

When the case resumed on Monday (August 15), state attorney Betty Twaidhukirwa informed court that the accused had admitted to trespassing on Kayanja’s family land and requested for an out-of-court settlement. 

“The accused wrote a letter to the State accepting the offence of criminal trespass and pleaded to have the matter settled with the complainant,” Twaidhukirwa told Kasangati Court presided over by Chief Magistrate Beatrice Kayinza. 

The accused, according to prosecution, appended their signatures on the letter. 

The accused confirmed to the magistrate that they wrote the letter. 

The accused are David Luzinda, Ronald Lumu, Issa Wasswa, Zaid Kavuma, Twaha Golooba, Yakub Waigongolo and Fred Ssenabulya, all residents of Buyinja zone in Kasangati, Wakiso district. 

“In the circumstances, I pray that you adjourn the case to another date so that I can talk to the accused,” Twaidhukirwa requested. 

This prompted the magistrate not to entertain submissions on bail, saying she would await the outcome of mediation. 

The magistrate further remanded the accused to Kasangati Prison until August 23. 

The magistrate said the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) embraced by the Judiciary was the best way of solving cases and reduces case backlog. 

ADR is the procedure of settling disputes without litigation, such as arbitration, mediation or negotiations 

Allegations 

The accused are facing charges of causing malicious damage and criminal trespass, contrary to Section 335 of the Penal Code Act. 

The offence attracts a maximum sentence of five years in prison upon conviction. 

Prosecution alleges that the accused and others still at large committed the offences between 2012 and 2016. 

It added that efforts to fence off the land by Kayanja’s employees were reportedly thwarted by the encroachers, who attacked them. 

According to Ivan Lwanga, the overall supervisor of the activities on the land, Rev. Walakira registered the land in 1968. 

Lwanga revealed that after failing to resolve the emerging disputes with the accused in regard to the land, Kayanja petitioned Wakiso Land Board and the resident district commissioner, Justine Mbabazi, suggested that the boundaries of the land be opened. 

Subsequently, the boundaries were opened by Gridline Survey Consult in May this year and the report indicated that several people had illegally encroached on the land.

Findings of the land survey that was witnessed by the Police and local leaders showed that not only did the land belong to Kayanja’s family, but its actual acreage was also bigger by seven decimals than previously stated. 

This followed a complaint by Kayanja over continued encroachment on the land. 

An investigation by the Wakiso District Land Board into the disputed boundaries of 11.1 hectares of the prime piece of land in Masooli has advised encroachers to vacate. 

A police source handling the matter disclosed that a 50x100 plot of land in the area goes for about sh40m and above. Lwanga says the report was served to the Buganda kingdom, who the residents claim is the owner of the land and it was never contested. 

Officials from Buganda Land Board noted that the boundary between Kabaka’s land and that of Walakira was properly marked and known.