Wakilii

Masika & 4 Ors v Attorney General (CIVIL SUIT No. 010 OF 2009)

High Court · [2012] UGHCCD 9 · 2012 Judgment for Plaintiffs AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for wrongful eviction and declarations of ownership, possession and injunctive relief
Decision
Plaintiffs declared lawful proprietors of the suit lands; Government ordered to give immediate vacant possession; permanent injunction granted; general and exemplary damages awarded to each plaintiff

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Holding

The High Court held that the plaintiffs were the lawful proprietors of the suit lands, holding them under customary tenure or registered leasehold title. The court found that Government's forceful eviction of the plaintiffs from their ancestral lands to create space for pastoralists was unlawful, arbitrary, and violated constitutional protections of property rights under Articles 21, 26 and 237 of the 1995 Constitution. The eviction was not carried out in accordance with legal requirements for compulsory acquisition, including prompt and fair compensation. The court ordered the Government to restore vacant possession to the plaintiffs, subject to the Lokeris Line boundary, and awarded general and exemplary damages.

Outcome

Plaintiffs declared lawful proprietors of the suit lands; Government ordered to give immediate vacant possession; permanent injunction granted; general and exemplary damages awarded to each plaintiff

Facts

289 plaintiffs (284 represented) claimed wrongful eviction by Government agents from approximately 2,050 acres of land at Bukangara and Rwehingo villages, Kasese District. The plaintiffs held the lands under registered leasehold or customary tenure, some tracing title to ancestral inheritance, others to purchase. In 2007, Minister Hillary Onek issued a ministerial statement declaring the lands should be allocated to Basongora pastoralists displaced from Queen Elizabeth National Park, despite earlier Government reports identifying only institutional Government lands for such resettlement and excluding these areas. Government forcefully evicted the cultivators from their lands, ostensibly for pacification due to clashes between cultivators and pastoralists, but evidence showed the real intention was to coerce the landowners into selling. The Lokeris Line, demarcated in 1989 by District Administrator Peter Lokeris and surveyed by David Langoya, established the boundary between cultivators and pastoralists in the Bukangara/Nyakatonzi area.

Issues

  1. Whether the suit lands belong to the Plaintiffs.
  2. Whether the Defendant lawfully evicted the Plaintiffs from the suit lands.
  3. What are the remedies available to the parties?

Orders

  • The Plaintiffs are the respective lawful proprietors of the suit lands and entitled to immediate possession and occupation thereof.
  • The Defendant, its agents, servants or any person acting under its authority, must immediately give vacant possession of the suit lands to the Plaintiffs, subject to the Lokeris Line.
  • The Commissioner of Surveys is directed to locate and open up the Lokeris Line and put in place distinct landmarks in accordance with the survey and mapping made by Mr David H. Langoya.
  • A permanent injunction issues restraining the Defendant, its agents, servants, or any person acting under its authority, from trespassing onto or interfering with the Plaintiffs' quiet enjoyment of the suit lands.
  • The Defendant shall pay each of the Plaintiffs general damages in the sum of UGX 10,000,000.
  • The Defendant shall pay each of the Plaintiffs punitive damages in the sum of UGX 2,000,000.
  • The Defendant shall pay each of the Plaintiffs costs of the suit.
  • The damages and costs awarded shall attract interest at Court rate from the date of the suit.

Rules and key headnotes

Customary Tenure — Transformation under 1995 Constitution — Protection Afforded
The 1995 Constitution ushered in a radical revolution in land tenure that transformed customary occupancy of public land into private customary landholding, affording it equal protection with freehold, mailo and leasehold tenure under Article 237(3), thereby extinguishing the vulnerability that hitherto characterised customary land tenure.
Property Rights — Compulsory Acquisition — Constitutional Requirements
Government may not compulsorily deprive a person of property except where the taking is necessary for public use or in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health, and only under a law which makes provision for prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation prior to the taking of possession, as required by Article 26(2) of the 1995 Constitution.
Equality and Protection of the Law — Article 21 — Arbitrary State Action
Article 21(1) of the Constitution provides for equality of all persons before and under the law and their entitlement to equal protection of the law; high-handed execution that deprives citizens of property by ancestral inheritance or purchase gravely offends constitutional protections and is not acceptable or demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society.
Land Disputes — Boundary Demarcation — Lokeris Line
Where a boundary line has been established by administrative action and subsequently surveyed and mapped by a qualified surveyor, that boundary must be located on the ground in accordance with the survey reports and cadastral maps, particularly where the boundary was designed to separate feuding communities and maintain peace.
Eviction — Unlawful Eviction — Sectarian Conduct
Where Government evacuates one community from disputed land ostensibly for pacification purposes but leaves the opposing community to utilise the land, such sectarian and partisan action betrays ulterior motives and is unlawful, particularly where it was hoped the evicted owners would be coerced into selling their land.
Exemplary Damages — Constitutional Violations — State Misconduct
Exemplary damages are appropriate where Government has engaged in a grave abuse of plaintiffs' human and property rights in violation of its cardinal constitutional mandate to zealously protect those rights, as a clear manifestation of the court's utter displeasure and disapproval and an assurance that the rule of law has no place for impunity.

Legislation cited (10)

Full judgment

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Masika & 4 Ors Vs Attorney General (CIVIL SUIT No. 010 OF 2009) [2012] UGHCCD 9 (25 April 2012)
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.