Makerere University Again Loses Bid to Reclaim Katanga Land

After over a century of Building For The Future, the future now seems to be overtaking Makerere University. The great institution that has trained most of the country’s top legal brains is now being ruled ruled out of order in rather basic court matters. Is it matter that the natives of Kampala would call being bitten by the puppy you nurtured, or the child you groomed doing so well, to your detriment?

Such has the month started for the univerity in the Land Division of the High Court in Kampala, which has ruled that it was an abuse of court process for Makerere to file another suit in the high court while still appealing in the Court of Appeal the decision to allow bibanja holders on its land located at Katanga informal settlement in Wandegeya. 

Justice Samuel Emokor held that the application filed by Makerere University in 2021 challenging the ownership of bibanja holders on the Wandegeya land was strikingly similar to the appeal it had filed challenging the 2000 ruling in which court held that although the University was the legal owner of land at Katanga, located between Makerere University and Mulago hospital, it nonetheless recognized the legal occupancy of Jonathan Masembe, Bulasio Buyise, G. Kagimu and Samalie Nambogga. 

“In my view, it would cause an absurdity for this court to reach one finding regarding the status of the Applicants on the suit property and the Court of Appeal reaches a different position regarding their predecessors,” Justice Emokor ruled. “This Court is bound to avoid scenarios such as this that may lead to contradictory orders being issued.”

The judge went on: “This would only bring the reputation of the Judiciary to disrepute. The Respondent in my considered opinion appears to be fishing on two fronts; before the Court of Appeal and before this court with the hope of succeeding in at least one of them. This is because the orders obtained in favour of the Respondent in any of the two Courts would have the same net effect of granting the Respondent possession of the suit property. I would therefore not risk overplaying my hand in this matter. In the result, the instant Application succeeds with orders issuing that HCCS No. 1051 of 2021 is res judicata and an abuse of court process.” 

Walugembe Daniel and Ssekajja in the suit against Makerere University alleged that their interest in the land emanated from the 2000 case that recognised their predecessor in title as bonafide occupants of the Katanga land owned by Makerere University. 

For its part, the university maintained that its land had no occupants who could claim any rights. The University also claimed that the new applicants were never part of the 2000 case that recognised bona fide occupants. However, in his ruling Justice Emokor held that despite the fact that applicants might have been different, ultimately, the contention was over the same piece of land.

“This court takes judicial notice of the fact that registration numbers of plots or pieces of land are prone to change over time either due to mutations or cancellations of titles, Justice Emokor observed, and thus ruled that, “…the land though does not shift or change location. It remains in the same place…The description of the suit property as highlighted above has continued to change over time, but even then, the changes can be traced backwards thereby avoiding uncertainty. What appears to be consistent though in all the three suits listed above is that the suit land is comprised in Katanga Valley.”

The court dismissing the suit as an abuse of the court process and Makerere University was ordered to pay for the cost of the suit.