After establishing herself as a competent and credible judge, Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire will now head a commission of inquiry into land matters in Uganda, expected to last six months.
The December 8 appointment of Justice Bamugemereire was made by President Yoweri Museveni, and she will serve with six other members among them Robert Sebunya, Ms. Mary Oduka Ochan, Ms. Joyce Habasa, Dr Rose Nakayi, former Justice and constitutional affairs minister Fred Ruhindi and Mr George Bagonza Tinkamanyire. Secretary to the Commission is Ms.Olive Karazarwe and Assistant Secretary Research is Dr Douglas Singiza, while Lead Counsel to the Commision is lawyer Ebert Byenkya, deputised by John Bosco Rujagaata Suuza.
The six-man team appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act is tasked to, among other issues, ‘inquire into the effectiveness of law, policies and processes of land acquisition; land administration; land management and land registration in Uganda’.
Previously, Lady Justice Bamugemereire chaired KCCA Tribunal in 2013 which was tasked to probe fights at City Hall between Executive Director Jennifer Musisi and Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, and she also chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the scams at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
Meanwhile, over the past 20 years, land matters in Uganda have increasingly become a complex issue, with thousands of land grabbers reportedly securing false documents and wrongfully acquiring land, in exercises carried out in connivance with officials from the lands office and the District Land Boards.
