Kyadondo East legislator Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has legitimate interests in the land on which his Semakokiro Plaza sits in Kamwokya, Kampala, his lawyer has said.
Kyagulanyi’s lawyer, Benjamin Katana, said M/s Pearl Hope Investments Limited, who claim ownership of the contested land, earlier served Kyagulanyi with an eviction notice, which he appropriately responded to.
“He (Kyagulanyi) was served with an eviction notice, which he responded to. But they (Pearl Hope Investments) have never replied to his response to date,” Katana said.
While addressing Kamwokya residents during a crisis meeting called to forge a way forward in the face of an eviction in March, Kyagulanyi called for calm.
“Any land eviction is born out of court orders as a result of a due legal process, which has not happened. I, therefore, urge you to stay calm.”
Asked whether he had received any instructions from Kyagulanyi regarding the latest development where Pearl Hope Investments said they would compensate all other people apart from his client, Katana answered in the affirmative.
According to Sunday New Vision, it reported that Kyagulanyi had lost his land and building in Kamwokya after the title holders sold the contested land to Ulrich Anass Bongo Ngoyi, a Gabonese- based businessman said to be a close relative of the ruling family in Gabon.
Kyagulanyi, who built the single-story Semakokiro Plaza on the land, is among the 393 residents who have for 16 years been facing eviction by Pearl Hope Investments, which has the title to the land.
The sellers have agreed to compensate some of the squatters. With 13 plots carved out, the disputed land measuring about 26 acres is situated on Block 213 Kyadondo and covers three zones of Kisenyi I, Mulimira and Old Kira Road.
SALE AGREEMENT
According to sources, a sale agreement was signed between Pearl Hope Investments, owner of the disputed land and Ngoyi.
The Gabonese businessman is represented by a firm based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has been established that the three family members; Jane Nanfuka, Katrina Nanfuka, and David Senfuka, who own Pearl Hope Investments, also have businesses they run in UAE.
When contacted, Senfuka, who is one of the Pearl Hope Investments directors, confirmed that they had entered into a deal with Ngoyi to sell their land.
On Kyagulanyi, Senfuka insisted that they did not know him as their squatter, adding that they would evict him off the land as a trespasser.
Asked where they were when Kyagulanyi acquired the land in 2012 and put up a building, Senfuka said they have written to him several letters but he ignored them.
Kyagulanyi reportedly bought the land from children of the late Gladys Nanyonga, who was a tenant on the land