Mutesa family strikes deal in 640-acre Mutungo land

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The dispute over the 640-acre multi-billion-dollar Mutungo land has finally been resolved after 22 years of litigation between the administrators of the estate of the late businessman Dr Muhammad Kasasa Buwule and the estate of Sir Edward Mutesa II.

The settlement was reached following mediation led by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo, who is set to retire on Sunday, on attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Owiny-Dollo signed a consent settlement agreement between the two families in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The development was also confirmed by the lawyers representing Kasasa’s family, Robert Kirunda and Simon Kiiza, who said the specific terms of the agreement remain confidential.

The settlement follows a directive issued by the Supreme Court on March 26 last year, ordering that the land dispute be mediated by the chief justice. The land comprises Kyadondo Block 237, plots 178 and 388, located at Mutungo in Nakawa division, Kampala.

The land comprises about eight zones and hosts more than 60,000 bibanja holders.

In the ruling delivered by a panel of Supreme Court justices led by Percy Tuhaise, the court reaffirmed that decisions concerning Kasasa’s estate must comply with clause 4.4 of his will.

The clause requires that all actions be jointly approved by the heiress, Sophia Nambalirwa Kasasa, together with two other executors. Other justices on the panel were Mike Chibita, Monica Mugenyi, Christopher Madrama and Catherine Bamugemereire.

Speaking at the Wednesday meeting, Owiny-Dollo thanked both families for entrusting him with the mediation process.

Present at the function were Buganda kingdom’s attorney general Christopher Bwanika, Prince David Kintu Wasajja, lawyer Usaama Ssebuufu, Nnalinya Sarah Kagere and Buganda Land Board spokesperson Denis Bugaya. Kasasa’s family, led by Dr Sophie Nambalirwa Kasasa and their lawyer Robert Kirunda, were also present at the function.

“I want to thank you for placing trust in me to help resolve this dispute. I returned from abroad today (Wednesday) and came directly from Entebbe for this engagement. It is one of the last things I am doing as chief justice before I leave office on Sunday,” Owiny-Dollo said.

He explained that after both parties appended their signatures to the agreement, only his signature remained pending. By signing the document, he formally reported to the Supreme Court that the parties had reached a mutually beneficial settlement.

According to the chief justice, the parties held mediation sessions on September 24 and October 13 last year and agreed to settle the disputes comprising the appeal on the terms contained in the consent settlement agreement.

“The mediation was therefore successful, and I hereby forward the file for further management,” Owiny-Dollo stated.

The chief justice said the settlement provides for an equal 50-50 sharing of the one-square-mile Mutungo land between the two families.

Owiny-Dollo urged the parties and the public to embrace mediation, negotiation and reconciliation as effective alternatives to prolonged litigation, describing them as “the way to go”.

Kasasa, who won the Mutungo land ownership case in the Court of Appeal against the administrators of the Mutesa II estate, died in June last year. This prompted the administrators of Mutesa II’s estate (Prince David Wasajja, Sarah Kagere, and Dorothy Nassolo) to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Court Documents

Documents indicate that in 1966, Mutesa II, who had been exiled in Britain, gave his sister, Princess Victoria Mpologoma, powers of attorney to act on his behalf. Court documents indicate that the land was registered in the name of Mutesa II on December 12, 1946.

In 1968, the land was subsequently sold to Masaka tycoon Benjamin Kwemalamala Kintu by Mpologoma.

Kintu later sold it to the defunct Lake View Properties Limited, which mortgaged the land with Barclays Bank in 1972, but defaulted. Kasasa paid the debt, and the bank subsequently gave him the titles on November 6, 1979.

Lake View Properties shareholders were Benedicto Kiwanuka (former chief justice), Joseph Mubiru (former governor of Bank of Uganda) and Lawrence Sebalu, a former finance minister.

However, the beneficiaries of Mutesa II’s estate, including Kabaka Mutebi, insisted the transfer was fraudulent.

THE CASE

In 2003, the administrators of the estate of the late Mutesa II filed a suit against Kasasa to recover the land, which was dismissed in 2016 by the Land Division of the High Court.

Two years later, (in 2005), Wasajja, representing 12 beneficiaries, sued the Government, demanding sh192b in compensation for the land.

However, the Court of Appeal justices agreed with High Court judge Eudes Keitirima that the appellants, having admitted to having lost the land, could not claim to recover it and at the same time claim for compensation.

Consequently, the justices dismissed the appeal with costs to Kasasa.

The justices were Elizabeth Musoke (now Supreme Court judge), Christopher Gashirabake and Eva Luswata.