Kyadondo East legislator Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has run to court, seeking to stop the sale of his land in Kamwokya, Kampala, to a Gabonese investor.
Kyagulanyi wants the court to stop the sale of the land, part of which is where his Semakokiro Plaza sits.
With 13 plots carved out, the disputed land, measuring about 26 acres, is situated on Block 213 Kyadondo and covers Kisenyi I, Mulimira and Old Kira Road zones.
Ugandanz News earlier on reported that Kyagulanyi had lost his land and flat in Kamwokya after the title holders, Pearl Hope Investments Limited, sold the contested land to Ulrich Anass Bongo Ngoyi, a Gabonese-based businessman, who is said to be a relative of the ruling family in Gabon.
Ngoyi, who had on August 12 made a down payment of $7.5m (sh28b), has since withheld the cash after Kyagulanyi filed a court case.
The down payment was half of the $15m (sh55.5b) that Ngoyi agreed on with Pearl Hope Investments for the land. Kyagulanyi is among the 393 residents who have for 16, years been facing eviction.
THE SUIT
In the suit, Kyagulanyi sued John Lutalo, who sold him the land and Pearl Hope Investments. Lutalo is the son of the late Gladys Nanyonga.
Three family members — Jane Nanfuka, Katrina Nanfuka and David Senfuka, who are based in the United Arab Emirates, own Pearl Hope Investments. Kyagulanyi wants the court to declare that he has a lawful interest in the land and to issue a permanent injunction restricting the defendants from interfering with his possession.
Kyagulanyi says he bought the land from Lutalo at sh25m on July 25, 2011, and Lutalo undertook to notify the landlord of his purchase.
“The plaintiff (Kyagulanyi) took possession and developed the land by erecting a storeyed structure thereon with general business. On March 11, however, the plaintiff received a letter from Pearl Hope Investments’ lawyers concerning the land, to the effect that his purchase was illegal and labelled him a trespasser,” Kyagulanyi stated.
When Pearl Hope Investments threatened to evict him, the legislator, through his lawyers, responded by detailing his legal claim to the property in his capacity as a Kibanja holder and how he acquired it.
However, a sales agreement that Kyagulanyi presented in court shows that he bought the land from Lutalo (Nanyonga’s son, who was a tenant) at sh50m and he made a down payment of sh25m.
Kyagulanyi was supposed to pay the balance after Lutalo had presented to him a land title, which he never did. Lutalo has since reportedly disappeared.
LANDLORD FILES DEFENCE
In their defence, Pearl Hope Investments wants the court to declare Kyagulanyi a trespasser and grant them an order to evict him.
Pearl Hope Investments claimed that the block number that appears on Kyagulanyi’s sale agreement is not the one for the suit land. Whereas the entire land in Kamwokya is located on block 213, Kyagulanyi’s agreement shows that his land is on Block 29, Plot 79.
However, Kyagulanyi, in a rejoinder affidavit tendered in court on November 6, admitted that there were discrepancies in the block number, but he argued that this was a result of misinformation of the address by the vendor (Lutalo).