Top Court Of Appeal Judge Sweats As Senior Magistrate Rejected His Evidence On Katanga Land Fight

By Hannah Marion Namukasa

Court has rejected exhibits presented by Dr Lule Ntwatwa as evidence through people he presented as defence witnesses in the case regarding Kibanja interest on part of the disputed Katanga Valley land near Wandegeya.

The exhibits in form of documents were presented by witnesses who turned up to defend Dr Ntwatwa and his co-accused persons who are charged with the offences of giving false information to a person employed in public office, conspiracy to defraud and uttering false documents.  

Dr Ntwatwa a Dentist and resident of Agrey Zone in Lubaga Division is jointly charged with Stuart Kateregga a self-employed resident of Munyonyo in Makindye Division and Wasswa Ntoogo, a resident of Soweto Zone in Katanga, Kawempe Division

Buganda Road Magistrates Court before Grade One Jatiko Nankya rejected the documents and directed that the said documents can only be allowed if they are certified.

The defence witnesses include Court of Appeal Judge Dr Asa Mugenyi, Tour operator Stella Nassuuna, and Moses Karemire Besimira and Kateregga.

Justice Mugenyi, testified that he worked for Dr Ntwatwa as private lawyer and presented to court a court judgment which was rejected by court reasoning that it was not certified as required.

The Court of Appeal judge also presented a tenancy agreement he drafted for Dr Ntwatwa and his tenant, Wawuyo but he could not explain the activity by the tenant. 

Court also rejected a sales agreement purportedly executed between Nassuuna and pastor Daniel Walugembe for 25 decimals of Kibanja. 

 Nassuuna had presented the purported photocopy of the agreement testifying that she sold a 25 decimal Kibanja to Walugembe but did not know its location. She also told the court that the portion was gifted to her by the late Jonathan Masembe, one of the Bonafide occupants on Katanga land but without a written note.

State Attorney Allan Mucunguzi objected to the agreement reasoning that it is a mere photocopy which could not be admitted as exhibit.

Another rejected document was an eviction notice presented by Besimira which was objected by the state saying that it was not a certified copy as required by law.

Besimira who claimed to own a more than 2-acre Kibanja in Katanga also failed to prove his ownership when the state asked him to show evidence.

Without showing any proof from the documents, Besimira also claimed that he was part of the 2015 decision of the High Court in which Justice Owiny Dollo declared that four family members and their licensees are Bonafide occupants. 

The court also rejected notices and license documents from the then Kampala City Council (KCC) presented by Kateregga, another defence witness.

Kateregga who claimed that he opened a Kiosk on Dr Ntwatwa’s Kibanja in 1992 only presented documents of 2008 leaving questions of when exactly he came onto the disputed land.

The trial magistrate directed that all rejected documents can only be admitted as exhibits as long as they are certified.

Dr Ntwatwa had presented the witnesses while defending himself over accusations of giving false information to police officers regarding ownership of Kibanja on part of Katanga land at Mulago Round About.

Dr Ntwatwa is jointly charged with Kateregga and Wandegeya Ward LCII chairperson, Wasswa Ntoogo.    

It is alleged that Dr Ntwatwa, Kateregga and Ntoogo and others still at large in the year 2019 at Wandegeya Police Station, Kawempe Division in the Kampala District information to Detective Corporal Lubowa employed in the Uganda Police force information which they knew or believed to be false that they were the rightful owners of the Kibanja opposite government Analytical Laboratory (GAL) Mulago Round about, the false information intending thereby to cause or knowing it to be likely that they cause the said Police officer to believe that the said Kibanja belongs to them and denote time and energy to investigate the matter. 

The state alleges that between 2019 and 2020 in Kampala, the three suspects conspired to defraud Walugembe of his Kibanja opposite GAL at Mulago Round About Haji Kasule Road by claiming to have bought it from Bulasio Bwisi in the early 1990s.

According to the sheet, on September 17, 2020at Wandegeya Police Station, Kawempe Division knowingly and fraudulently uttered false documents to wit Busuulu receipts (Ground rent receipts) to the Police officer purporting to have been issued to him by the family of Ashe Sendawula Mukasa.

Meanwhile, trial Magistrate Nankya has adjourned the case to September 29, 2025 for further hearing of defence evidence.