Hadijah Nazziwa v Hajji Moses Lubega and Another (Civil Suit No. 34 of 2020)

Observed later treatment

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The High Court held that the plaintiff proved trespass by the first defendant on a kibanja forming part of her deceased husband's estate. The court granted a declaration of ownership, a permanent injunction against the first defendant, and general damages of UGX 30,000,000. The suit against the second defendant was dismissed for lack of evidence linking him to the trespass. Special damages were denied for failure of strict proof.

Outcome

Judgment entered in favour of the Plaintiff against the 1st Defendant. Suit against the 2nd Defendant dismissed.

Facts

The plaintiff married the late Twaha Kasiita in the late 1960s. Her father-in-law, the late Kyewalyanga Saad, donated a kibanja to the couple, which they possessed and cultivated. After her husband's death in 1994, the first defendant (her husband's brother) claimed ownership of the kibanja. The plaintiff successfully defended her claim in the LC1 village court in 2012. In 2020, the first defendant, allegedly with the second defendant's security personnel, brought a grader onto the land, destroyed crops, and created a road through approximately 2.5 acres of the kibanja. The plaintiff alleged the second defendant had purchased the land from the first defendant and sought to buy the kibanja from her, but negotiations failed.

Issues

1. Whether the entire suit kibanja as claimed by the Plaintiff belongs to the estate of the Late Twaha Kasiita.
2. What remedies are available to the Parties?

Orders

• The suit kibanja is a property of the Plaintiff and the estate of the Late Twaha Kasiita.
• A permanent injunction issues against the 1st Defendant, his agents, assignees and successors in title, restraining them from further trespassing on the suit land.
• The Plaintiff is awarded UGX 30,000,000 (Uganda Shillings Thirty Million Only) in general damages payable by the 1st Defendant.
• The Plaintiff is awarded interest on General damages at 16% per annum until payment in full.
• The area LC1 Chairman and his team of leaders shall ascertain the exact measurements of the suit kibanja for clarity and file them on the record of this court as well as serve them on the 1st Defendant within 3 months from the date of delivery of this Judgment.
• The Plaintiff is awarded Costs of the suit, recoverable from the 1st Defendant.
• The Plaintiff's suit against the 2nd Defendant is dismissed with no order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (2)

• Evidence Act Cap. 6 s.101(1)
• Civil Procedure Act Cap. 282 s.27

Cases cited (6)

• Justine E.M.N Lutaya v Stirling Civil Engineering Company Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 11 of 2002)
• George William Kakoma v Attorney General [2010] HCB 1
• Sebuliba v Cooperative Bank Ltd [1982] HCB 130
• Oketha v Attorney General (Civil Suit No. 0069 of 2004)
• Besimira Moses v Attorney General (Civil Suit No. 143 of 2015)
• Kampala District Land Board & Anor v Venansio Babweyana (Civil Appeal No. 02 of 2007)

Cases citing this judgment (1)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

• Kawuki v Sematiko (Civil Appeal 131 of 2023)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.