New details emerge on Kajura’s land deal By Mary Karugaba New details have emerged relating to the circumstances under which the former premier and veteran politician Mzee Henry Muganwa Kajura, entered into a disastrous transaction with a moneylender.
It has emerged that both Kajura and his wife, Regina, signed on the agreement for the sale of their ancestral land and palatial country home, to the purported moneylender.
According to documents seen by this website the couple also signed the transfer agreement of the property, with developments thereon, comprised of Block 9 Plot 5 located in Nyakafunjo village, Kitoba sub-county, Bugahya county in Hoima district.
The former minister’s property, that measures 50 acres, was sold off to the purported moneylender, Abdu Ssali, a resident of Bweyogerere, a Kampala suburb.
Ssali, however, denies being a moneylender and insists that he purchased the Kajura family property, for which he paid sh500m.
“I am not a moneylender. I paid cash for the property and he gave me the title. The sales agreement is there and he is not demanding anything from me. I paid him cash, after which he signed the agreement and the transfer forms,” Ssali, speaking in Luganda, revealed.
Whereas Kajura’s relatives argue that he had paid some of the money back, Ssali insists that he did not lend him any money, but purchased the property which he now wants to take over.
“He should hand over the property. There is no agreement indicating that our client lent him money. Our client is not a moneylender,” Ssali’s lawyer, Simon Kasangaki, said.
Kasangaki, however, accuses Kajura’s side of failing to appear in court every time the matter comes up.
How he got into the mess
Sources say as the 2015 campaigns intensified, Kajura, the then first deputy prime minister and Minister of Public Service, ran out of money and contacted a close friend to find for him someone who could lend him quick money, on the assumption that he would win the campaigns and, as a minister, he could raise the money and payback.
The friend quickly connected Ssali. The friend and Ssali traveled from Kampala to Hoima to meet Kajura over the deal.
“On that day, Kajura was rushing back to Kampala because he had a cabinet meeting at 11:00 am. After the meeting with Ssali, Kajura left the wife and another relative to complete the deal,” a source said.
At the time, the source said, Kajura asked for only sh100m, which he promised to pay back within one month, with sh25m as accrued interest.
Ssali reportedly went to the Centenary Bank in Hoima and withdrew the sh100m which he handed over to a relative of Kajura in the presence of the wife. At this stage, there was no agreement signed.
However, Ssali insisted on getting the original title before handing over the cash. The original title was, unfortunately not in Hoima, but at Kajura’s residence in Nakasero, Kampala.
“Ssali later picked the original title from Kajura’s residence in Kampala,” the source narrated.
“On that day, no agreement was signed and the amount involved was sh100m. The property in question was just the house and not the entire plot of land. How the money accumulated to sh500m, I don’t know.”
However, other sources say Kajura continued to ask for more money from Ssali, pushing the debt to sh500m. Documents dated May 2018, show that Ssali petitioned the court to issue an order to Kajura to vacate the property in question.