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Ssenyonga Haruna and Another v Kwesiga William and Others (Civil Appeal No. 17 of 2020)

Supreme Court · [2025] UGSC 53 · 2025 Appeal Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Second civil appeal from the Court of Appeal in a land dispute over competing leasehold titles to 259 hectares.
Decision
Appeal dismissed with costs; the Court of Appeal's dismissal of the High Court suit and allowance of the counterclaim stand.

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Holding

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in a land dispute over 259 hectares from a restructured ranch. It held the appellants' 1982 lease expired by effluxion of time in 1987; as they neither sought renewal nor remained in possession, the land reverted to the District Land Board and was available for leasing to the respondents' predecessor. No fraud was proved against the respondents. The Court departed from Zaabwe v Orient Bank, holding that section 132 of the Registration of Titles Act (Latin-character signatures) is merely directory for leases executed by statutory bodies, so an undated lease lacking officials' names is a mere irregularity.

Facts

In 1982 the first appellant and the predecessors of the second and third appellants were granted a five-year lease by the Uganda Land Commission over about 1,228.8 hectares (five square miles) in present-day Sembabule District, registered as Mawogola Ranch No. 40. The initial lease expired in January 1987 and the lessees never applied for renewal or extension. During the 1990s Ranch Restructuring Exercise the government took four square miles, leaving about 259 hectares (one square mile). In 2002 Paulo Sabiiti obtained a 49-year lease over the 259 hectares from the Sembabule District Land Board, registered in 2006 and later transferred to the respondents. In 2008 the appellants separately obtained and registered a 49-year lease over the same 259 hectares, producing two competing titles. The appellants sued in 2012 seeking cancellation of the respondents' title for fraud and illegality. The High Court found for the appellants, but the Court of Appeal reversed, holding the land had reverted and was available for leasing and that no fraud was proved.

Issues

  1. Whether the appellants are the lawful owners of the 259 hectares of land such that it could not be reallocated by the Sembabule District Land Board.
  2. Whether the 259 hectares were illegally and fraudulently acquired and transferred to the respondents.
  3. Whether the respondents are bona fide purchasers for value without notice.
  4. Whether an undated lease that omits the names of the District Land Board's Chairman and Secretary, and whose signatures are not in Latin character, is invalid.
  5. Whether an argument not pleaded or canvassed in the lower courts, or outside the memorandum of appeal, may be raised for the first time on a second appeal.

Orders

  • The preliminary objections (mootness and contempt) are dismissed.
  • The appeal is dismissed.
  • Costs of the appeal are awarded to the respondents.

Key headnotes

Leasehold — Expiry by Effluxion of Time — Reversion to Controlling Authority
Where a lease expires by effluxion of time and the lessee neither applies for renewal or extension nor remains in possession, the land reverts to the controlling authority, which may lawfully reallocate it.
Ranch Restructuring Scheme — Claim to Residue Land — Burden of Proof
A former rancher claiming an interest in residue land under the ranch restructuring scheme bears the burden of adducing admissible evidence of the restructuring policy and the Board's recommendations; bare assertion, unsupported by certified documents, is insufficient to establish the claim.
Proof of Documents — Public Documents — Inadmissibility of Oral Evidence
The contents of public documents must be proved by primary evidence or, in their place, by certified copies; their contents cannot be proved by oral evidence, and an annexure to a pleading does not become evidence unless duly tendered and admitted as an exhibit.
Appeals — Matters Raised for the First Time on Second Appeal
A party may not argue on second appeal a matter neither pleaded nor canvassed in the courts below, nor a ground outside the memorandum of appeal, save with leave of the court or where the new matter concerns an illegality, since courts cannot sanction an illegality.
Registration of Titles Act s.132 — Latin-Character Signatures — Directory for Statutory Bodies
Section 132 of the Registration of Titles Act, requiring signatures to be in Latin character, is directory rather than mandatory when applied to lease instruments executed by the Chairperson and Secretary of a District Land Board, so non-compliance does not ipso facto invalidate the lease in the absence of allegations of forgery.
Lease by Statutory Body — Root of Title in Board Minute
A leasehold interest granted by a District Land Board is rooted in the Board's minute; invalidation of the lease deed or the certificate of title does not by itself extinguish the lessee's underlying interest.
Fraud — Attribution to Transferee — Existence of Interest Capable of Being Defeated
Fraud sufficient to defeat a registered title must be attributable to the transferee; where the claimant holds no valid or existing interest capable of being defeated, an allegation of fraud cannot succeed.

Legislation cited (14)

  • Land Act, Cap. 236 s.95(4)
  • Land Act, Cap. 236 s.91(1)
  • Land Act No. 16 of 1998 s.98(4)
  • Evidence Act, Cap. 8 s.56(1)(f)
  • Evidence Act, Cap. 8 s.58
  • Evidence Act, Cap. 8 s.63
  • Evidence Act, Cap. 8 s.64(1)(e)
  • Evidence Act, Cap. 8 s.64(4)
  • Registration of Titles Act, Cap. 240 s.131
  • Registration of Titles Act, Cap. 240 s.132
  • Registration of Titles Act, Cap. 240 s.147
  • Registration of Titles Act, Cap. 240 s.148
  • Supreme Court Rules r.98(a)
  • Constitution of the Republic of Uganda art.134(4)

Cases cited (21)

  • Tito Buhingiro v Uganda (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 1 of 2014)
  • Kifamunte Henry v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 10 of 1997)
  • Sudhir Ruparelia v Crane Bank Ltd (In Receivership) & Anor (Miscellaneous Application No. 39 of 2020)
  • Human Rights Network for Journalists & Anor v Uganda Communications Commission & 6 Others (Miscellaneous Cause No. 219 of 2013)
  • Jingo Livingstone Mukasa v Hope Rwaguma (Civil Appeal No. 190 of 2015)
  • Kwesiga William & 2 Others v Ssenyonga Haruna & 2 Others (Civil Application No. 43 of 2021)
  • Kyepaka Francis & Anor v George Rwakarongo & 2 Ors (Civil Suit No. 289 of 2007)
  • Sheema Cooperative Ranching Society & 31 Ors v Attorney General (Civil Suit No. 103 of 2010)
  • Des Raj Sharma v Reginam [1953] 20 EACA 310
  • Osherura Owen and Tumwesigye Frank v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 50 of 2015)
  • Twinomugisha Alex alias Twine, Patrick Kwezi and John Sanyu Katuramu v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 35 of 2002)
  • Bogere Asiimwe Moses and Senyonga Sunday v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 39 of 2016)
  • Fredrick J.K. Zaabwe v Orient Bank Ltd and 5 Others (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2006)
  • Belex Tours & Travel Ltd v Crane Bank Ltd & Anor (Civil Appeal No. 71 of 2009)
  • Uganda Ex-Servicemen Association v Kiboga District Land Board & 3 Ors (Civil Suit No. 091 of 2009)
  • Kampala District Land Board v Babweyaka & 3 Others (Civil Appeal No. 2 of 2007)
  • Agandru Vs Etoma (Civil Suit-2011/)
  • Kisumu Quarries v The Administrator General (Civil Appeal No. 10 of 1998)
  • Rwabugande v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 25 of 2014)
  • Livingstone Sewanyana v Martin Aliker (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 1990)
  • Attorney General v Uganda Law Society [2009] UGSC 2
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.