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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | High Court has issued orders restraining warring parties feuding over land in Kansanga Kiwafu B and Heritage zones in Makindye division in Kampala from carrying out any physical developments.
The order affects more than 300 occupants on the disputed land. The group is feuding with National Environmental Management Authority, which wants them to vacate disputed land, saying they encroached on a wetland.
Justice Yasin Nyanzi signed the orders on Tuesday following an agreement between NEMA’s lawyers Sarah Naigaga and Stella Muheki and the applicant’s lawyers, Achilles Lubega, Isa Kavuma and Adam Kirumira.
In their consent agreement, the parties agreed that both residents and NEMA provide proof ownership of the suit land before they return to court on August 18, 2020. it was also agreed that NEMA continues with the process of mapping the area that requires restoration for the ecological functions of the wetland.
Residents are expected to cooperate to enable the Authority execute the exercise properly. During the hearing, NEMA’s lawyers also told court that the matter should have been heard before the High Court Civil Division.
However, Justice Nyanzi noted that he will determines on the matter the next time they return to court next month. The petitioner’s lawyer Lubega confirmed the ongoing process.
The affected residents ran to court after NEMA ordered them to vacate the said land on June 8, 2020. The NEMA Executive Director, Tom Okurut gave the affected people 21 days to vacate the wetland or else face forceful eviction.
However, residents challenged their eviction, saying they have stayed on the subject land for over thirty years even before the NEMA Act 1998 came in place.
They asked court to declare that they don’t occupy any land under the authority, control and management of NEMA and asked to be compensated if government wants to set up a project on the contested land.
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