The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The land registry has presented documents showing how the family of Daudi Chwa II, the 34th King of Buganda lost their royal estate.
The documents brought from the Land registry by by acting Commissioner land registration Robert Opiyo indicate that the land was sold twice by former Prince of Buganda Kingdom, Alfred Kato Kiggala, Daudi Chwa’s heir between 1961 and 1964.
The land totaling Nine acres in Munyonyo is at the heart of a protracted dispute pitting the families of former Minister of Finance Maria Kiwanuka and that of Suleiman Byatike Matovu under the leadership of his daughter Dr. Irene Ronah Lubega Byatike, a Pediatrician at Mulago Hospital.
Dr Lubega Byatike petitioned the Commission to probe how the land which had his father’s subsisting caveat got parceled out and transferred.
Robert Opiyo, the Acting Land Commissioner for Land Registry says that old land documents in Land registry indicate that Prince Alfred Kato Kiggala sold the land off for 5,000 Shillings, on July 30, 1959 to Ambrose Wafuba who later sold it off to Aristarchus Ssekagya Nsibirwa Kiwana.
Opiyo said the Prince later controversially sold the same piece of land to Suleiman Byatike Matovu, the father of Dr. Irene Lubega at 500 Uganda Shillings on May 5th, 1966. He said the matter went to Court which ruled in favour of the family of Kiwana, the father of former Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka. He explained that Suleiman Byatike Matovu fruitlessly tried to institute a caveat on the land.
Asked by Land Probe Commission Assistant Lead Counsel John Odit whether the family of His Royal Highness Daudi Chwa II and that of Byatike Matovu still have valid claims over the land, Opiyo said documents are clear that the royal family sold their interests away while that of Byatike lost their interests through a court process.
Opiyo named the parties who are currently owning the said land as Companies belonging to the mother and siblings of former Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka namely Margaret Ndibalekera Kiwana (mother), Maria Kiwanuka Kiwana (former Finance Minister, Janet Kiwana, Babirye Nakasi Kiwana and Esther Nabwami Kiwana.
The land that is found in Munyonyo was transferred to the father of former Finance Minister, Maria Kiwanuka and inherited by his family after he died in 1964. The Kiwanuka’s have since built posh rental apartments on its sections on block 257, Plot 5 Kyadondo in Munyonyo.
They were dragged to the Commission by DDrIrene Ronah Lubega Byatike, on allegations that the land was owned by her father, the late Sulemani Byatike Matovu. She sought to understand how it was sub divided into plots 432 and 433 measuring 0.81 hectares and 2.832 hectares in 1991.
She says they are interested in uncovering how the land changed hands. He says they have so far managed to find some clues that companies owned by Nakato Kiwana and five others registered the land in their names in 2010 under instrument no. KLA 446950.
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