A group of officials at the office of Administrator General is in hot soup for mismanaging, grabbing, and fraudulently selling the 320 acres of land (comprised in Busiro Block 429 plot 3 at Kawuku – Bugiri) previously belonging to Mzee Andereya Mayanja Nakiyenje, who died in 1981 at Bwerenga – Busiro in Wakiso District.
Following the death of Mayanja, the plan to intermeddle, grab, divide, distribute and sell the deceased’s estate was properly orchestrated by the officials at the Administrator General office in conjunction with suspicious family members.
Mzee Mayanja and his wife Madalene Nakku had biologically produced only one son, Henry Kyobe who was mentally disabled due to a serious accident hence remained in the state of unsound mind throughout his life.
On May 19, 1989, the office of the Administrator General applied for the letters of administration for the estate of late Mayanja vide Kampala High court Administration cause No. 265 of 1989 and a grant was issued in favour on June 27, 1989.
Justice Herbert Ntabgoba in HCS no. 170 of 1990 made a declaration to the effect that all property left by Late Mayanja be passed on to his only son Henry Kyobe. However the office of the Administrator General failed to pass on the deceased’s estate to his son Kyobe from March 24, 1993 until his death on July 17, 2019.
In 1993, the widow, Madalene Nakku and late Mayanja’s brother Bruno Senkatuka Serunkuuma applied for the letters of administration and the registrar’s court granted them in error. This prompted the Administrator General to go to court to challenge the circumstances under which the letters of administration were granted to the widow and her brother in-law, Senkatuka to which the reversal was made and the decision of High Court cause No. 265 of 1989 was upheld.
The former Principal Judge, late Justice Herbert Ntabgoba cancelled the letters of administration that were granted to Nakku and her brother in-law and ruled that Mayanja’s only son Kyobe was the sole beneficially of the deceased father’s estate and the Administrator General was granted letters as a trustee of Kyobe.
Because Kyobe was mentally ill and hardly knew anything about the transactions on the father’s estate, the officials at the office of the Administrator General started selling land illegally for over 20 years.
Whereas the law requires that a person of unsound mind should have his estate guided by someone of good mind – the estate must be run by a close friend or relative appointed by court after conducting a thorough investigation. The law regarding the estate of a person with unsound mind does not permit a person running it to sell, lease, subdivide, develop, mortgage without obtaining a court order.
It should be noted that at this point, Nakku had died and Kyobe was not married due to his condition. The officials at the Administrator General’s office abrogated the law and instead started selling and leasing out the estate hastily.
The records from the Commissioner of Land Registration indicate that, through various capricious transactions, the estate of late Kyobe has been subdivided into more than 100 small plots and transferred to third parties despite having no authority to do so after Justice Ntabgoba’s judgment (HCC 170 of 1990), which declared that the property solely belonged to Henry Kyobe.
Land bonanza
Records indicate that in 1996, the office of the Administrator General embarked on the mission to sell Mayanja’s estate with a lot of impunity. It started with allotting 50 acres to Aurum Roses, who, according to the available documents and receipts, paid Shs145,000,000. In the same year, the office of Administrator General leased out 40 acres to Scripture Union at an unspecified amount. Records indicate that on March 4, 1997, 30 acres of Mayanja’s land were transferred to Israel Mayengo, who paid Shs8,000,000.
The land bonanza which benefited the yet to be known officials continued and hereunder a list of individuals that bought land from the Administrator General is undisputed since most of them have evidently written to the Administrator General through the Commissioner Land Registration, Ahmed Dhamulira requesting for the search of the land comprised in Busiro block 429.
The rest of the land was sub-divided and sold to people who are believed to be proxies of the officials at the Administrator General’s office. The suspicion arises from the fact that nothing has been done on the land raising a question; why would a person buy land and spend 20 years without developing or reselling it?
The years between 2009 – 2021 were referred to as a period of land bonanza since the Administrator General’s office openly sold late Kyobe’s land to individuals, to which payments were effected and receipts issued without fear or favour. The list is very long but the notable and bold ones whose signatures are on blueprint include Dimintria Nabbantu Kaddugala who paid Shs18.500,000 for 0.532 hectares, Paul Seminyigo Wavamuno who paid Shs20,000,000 for 0.281 hectares, Thereza Najjuna paid Shs4,000,000 for 0.6 hectares, Rosemary Nalwembe Wagaba paid Shs2,000,000, Wilson Mubiru Nsubuga paid Shs4,000,000 for 0.80 hectares, Sentamu Francis Xavier paid Shs30,000,000 for 0.587 hectares, William Tamale Babumba of Church Zone Kansanga bought 0.563, Dr. Margaret Lubega bought 0.529 hectares and 0.615 hectares, Tom Ndaruhutse bought 0.733 hectares, Damalie Nakanjako Kyabayinze and Daniel Kyabayinze bought 0.379 hectares, Tom Magezi and Esther Katende Magezi bought 0.379 hectares and 0.416 hectares respectively, Hajjat Gayinamungu Halima bought 1.131 hectares and paid Shs45,000,000, Modia Investments Uganda bought 0.273 hectares, Salongo Kityo Francis bought 0.308 hectares at Shs23,000,000, Paul Seminyigo Wavamuno and Florence Anek Okello Wavamuno bought 0.281 hectares at Shs20,000,000, Natasha Apio and Alex Okello Okello bought 0.719 and 0.182 at Shs30,000,000, Fred M. Bogere bought 1.102 at Shs30,000,000, Rogers Muhirwa and Jacqueline Muhirwa Kyokunda bought 0.973 hectares, Charles R. Kabugo Musoke bought 0.973 hectares, Nicholas Mugyenyi Sewala bought 1.01 hectares, Kassim Sebanobe bought 0.730 hectares at 24,000,000, Olivia Achen and Brenda Yvonne Akumu bought 1.252 hectares at Shs22,000,000, Amos Nzabanita bought 0.796 hectares at Shs2,000,000, Elizabeth Nakayima Ntege bought 0.383 hectares, Peter Sserubugo bought 3.291 hectares at Shs20,000,000, The Sisters of Immaculate heart of Mary Reparatrix Ggogonya bought 3.288 hectares at Shs40,000,000, Lule Philip bought 0.522 hectares, Eng. Mukasa Mulinde bought 1.954 hectares at 25,000,000 and 1.755 hectares at an unspecified amount. Hassan Bwanika bought 1.909 hectares at Shs400,000,000, Mubiru Kalenge Steven bought 0.820 hectares, Jonathan Gyagenda Mubiru bought 0.828 hectares at Shs25,000,000, Sheila Kityo bought 0.421 hectares at Shs10,000,000, Kizito Jenifer bought 0.456 hectares, Annet Nazziwa Kasi Nsubuga bought o.632 hectares, Roger Edmund Baryamujura bought 0.809, Willy Anokbongo and Allan Anokbongo bought 0.197.
This publication accessed the above documents of the buyers but a huge chunk of land was transferred and the records are not clear raising suspicion on the owners.
Although there was a temporary injunction order by Her Worship, Cissy K. Mudhasi, covering almost all the subdivisions made, the Administrator General continued to distribute and sell land illegally.
The illegal sale and transfers have caused real beneficiaries to lose revenue, miss opportunities, and suffer psychological torture and gross inconvenience for which they are entitled to damages.
Fraudulent tactics exposed
In 2019, Kyobe’s relatives(both maternal and paternal) went to court in Mpigi, and Justice Godfrey Namundi found that the Administrator General was liable for mismanaging the estate of Kyobe, which he hadbequeathed from his father.
Justice Namundi cancelled the letters of Administrator General and appointed Kyobe’s maternal aunt, Agati Nanteza to manage the estate on behalf of Kyobe.
However, unknown to the judge, the court, and a big section of the relatives, Nanteza was keeping an 81-year-old Kyobe at her house. Nanteza put Kyobe in her custody so as to push her hidden agenda without any interruption. Kyobe’s health matters became worse, and coupled with old age, he died in Nanteza’s custody.
Instead of declaring his death something that would raise an alarm of the relatives, Nanteza kept it to herself and secretly paid and kept Kyobe’s body at Mulago Medical School as the court case was going on.
She reportedly did this because she was in connivance with some officials at the Administrator General to sell the remaining land without the knowledge of other relatives. This was so dangerous because the Court was duped into granting letters of administration to a dead person unknowingly.
In 2021, it was discovered that Kyobe’s body was secretly kept at Mulago Medical School, and by this time, Nanteza had transferred and sold part of the land to the members of the public, and the notable one was Rebecca Mbabazi, who paid Shs130 million for four acres on late Mayanja’s estate.
On realizing that she was duped, Mbabazi dragged Nanteza to court and slapped her with criminal charges. In 2023, Nanteza was convicted at Buganda Road to 18 months at Luzira prison but has since come out of detention.
It should be noted that in 2021, another section of Kyobe’s relatives filed an application at Family Division Court in Makindye to set aside the letters of Administration that were granted to Kyobe through Nanteza.
Justice Matovu sets conditions
In the new decisions Court under Justice David Matovu ordered on notable issues that;
i) The Administrator General was ordered to account for the estate of Kyobe from when he took over the land in 1993 after the death of Kyobe’s father.
ii) The Administrator General was wrongly running the estate of Kyobe as if it was his father’s estate.
iii) While referring to Ntabgoba’s judgment in 1993 Justice Matovu held the Administrator General was a trustee of Kyobe’s land who died in 2021 – implying that it was illegal for the Administrator General to handle the estate of Kyobe’s father, yet the beneficially (Kyobe) was still alive so he remained a trustee for Kyobe and was supposed to manage the property in that manner. The court further ordered that the Administrator General to apply afresh for the letters of Kyobe’s estate which he did and were granted.
iv) Court cancelled the letters of administration granted to Nanteza since Kyobe was already a dead person at the time of the grant.
v) The Administrator General was ordered to distribute all the remaining land to the beneficiaries of Kyobe’s relatives, both maternal and paternal after accounting for the mismanagement of the estate from 1993.
However the real problems have continued in a situation where the Administrator General has since failed to account; since the time of Justice Matovu’s ruling, the Administrator General has adamantly and stubbornly refused to account for the estate. The office has used all the tricks and tactics to avoid accountability probably because the people to account are the same owning the land through proxies. It is alleged that the top four officials who have since been transferred to other offices have remained the big forces behind this mess. Since there is fear that the accountability will bring out the truth of the ownership, the matter has remained a big puzzle.
What next?
After defying court order, the beneficiaries of the estate of Kyobe filed a suit to High Court Civil Suit No. 59 of 2021 against the Administrator General and the Attorney General seeking for court orders to account for the estate, distribute the balance of the land and lastly to compensate the estate for all the land sold or leased by the Administrator General since 1993 up to the time of Kyobe’s death in 2021.
The family members want the Administrator General to further compensate the estate beneficiaries for the loss and damages caused by the Administrator General’s office by meddling into the estate of Kyobe.
The investigations that the beneficiaries conducted in Wakiso reveal that some specific top officials in the Administrator General’s office, without any authority of the court, sold the estate land and subdivided it into many plots, which were sold to the persons listed above. Most of the illegal conversions and sales were done during the time of Charles Kasibayo, and the new Administrator General Victor Manzi just inherited an already burning house.
At the time of writing this story, the matter is in court before Justice John Eudes Keitirima and will be coming up for hearing within this month. If Justice Keitirima rules against the Administrator General, it will confirm that indeed the members at the Administrator General’s office have been stealing land from many Ugandans since the complaints of the crying people against the office in question for abetting the grabbing of various estates.
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