Wakilii

Jenifer Kiggundu Nabatanzi v Denis Besigye Byarugaba (Civil Suit 378 of 2018)

High Court · [2023] UGHCLD 505 · 2023 Judgment for Defendant AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for declaration of customary land ownership
Decision
Suit dismissed with defendant remaining registered proprietor of the suit land

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 2 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 2 times with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The High Court dismissed the plaintiff's claim for customary land ownership, holding that the plaintiff failed to prove acquisition of customary tenure and that customary tenure was legally prohibited on urban land under the Public Land Act 1969 and Land Reform Decree 1975. The defendant was the registered proprietor under a valid leasehold title originating from his late mother's 1991 allocation by Kampala City Council and subsequent transfer to Buganda Land Board.

Outcome

Suit dismissed with defendant remaining registered proprietor of the suit land

Facts

The plaintiff claimed she bought kibanja land at Buziga in 1993 from Eseza Zalwango and developed it with structures and crops. She alleged the defendant fraudulently included her land in his 2011 leasehold title (LRV 4287 Folio 18) and demolished her structures in 2018. The defendant countered that the land originally belonged to his late mother Margaret Kaberuka, who obtained a lease offer from Kampala City Council in 1991 and from Buganda Land Board in 1996 after the land was returned to the Kabaka. Upon his mother's death in 2003, her children assigned their interests to him, and he was registered as proprietor in 2011. The plaintiff's purchase agreement was unsigned by the vendor and lacked boundary definitions. No evidence established that customary tenure applied in the area.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaintiff has interest in the suit land.
  2. Whether the defendant's acts complained of amounted to trespass.
  3. Whether the inclusion of the plaintiff's kibanja/customary land holding in the defendant's application for lease and in lease hold register volume 4287 folio 18 plot 5 Lukuli Link Road, Buziga was fraudulent.
  4. Whether the parties are entitled to the remedies sought.

Orders

  • Suit dismissed.
  • No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Customary Tenure — Urban Land — Legal Prohibition under Public Land Act 1969 and Land Reform Decree 1975
A person cannot acquire customary tenure on urban land where the law in force at the time of alleged acquisition specifically prohibited customary tenure in urban areas, and no application was made to prescribed authorities for fresh customary tenure.
Customary Tenure — Proof of Customary Interest — Requirements under Evidence Act s.46
To establish customary tenure, it is not sufficient merely to carry out activities on land for any period; a claimant must prove by evidence from persons likely to know that in that area, it is a custom that whoever carries out certain activities for a specific period becomes a customary owner.
Customary Tenure — Definition and Incidents under Land Act s.1(1) and s.3
Customary tenure applies to a specific area of land and specific class of persons governed by rules accepted as binding by that class, but a kibanja is not defined as one of the incidents of customary tenure under the Land Act, and merely being a kibanja holder does not per se establish customary tenure.
Customary Tenure and Freehold — Mutual Exclusivity
Customary tenure and freehold tenure, both being forms of tenure owned in perpetuity under Land Act s.3(h), are legally mutually exclusive and cannot legally co-exist on the same land.
Trespass to Land — Elements of Proof
To succeed in an action for trespass to land, a plaintiff must prove that the disputed land belonged to the plaintiff, that the defendant entered upon it, and that entry was unlawful in that it was made without permission or the defendant had no claim, right, or interest in the disputed land.
Burden of Proof — Standard of Proof on Balance of Probabilities
The burden of proof rests on the person who must fail if no evidence at all is given on either side, and the standard of proof is on a balance of probabilities such that the tribunal can say it is more probable than not, but if the probabilities are equal, the burden is not discharged.

Legislation cited (13)

Cases cited (5)

  • Miller v Minister of Pensions [1947] 2 All ER 372
  • Kampala District Land Board and Another v Venansio Babweyaka and 3 Others (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 2 of 2007)
  • R v Ndembera S/o Mwandewale (1947) 14 EACA 58
  • Justine E.M.N. Lutaaya v Sterling Civil Engineering Co. (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 11 of 2002)
  • Sheikh Muhammed Lubowa v Kitara Enterprises Ltd (Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. 4 of 1987)

Cases citing this judgment (2)

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.

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Jenifer_Kiggundu_Nabatanzi_v_Denis_Besigye_Byarugaba_(Civil_Suit_378_of_2018)_[2023]_UGHCLD_505_(16_October_2023)
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.