Muheirwoha v Katongole & 3 Ors (Ma No. 17 of 2011)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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 court dismissed the application for a vesting order under section 77 of the Registration of Titles Act. Section 77 applies only where a person has recovered land by proceedings from a registered proprietor. The applicant's late father had filed a suit which was later dismissed for want of prosecution, meaning no determination on merits occurred. Without a court order for recovery of land from the registered proprietor, the applicant could not prove on balance of probabilities that section 77 applied. The application was misconceived and possibly an abuse of process.

Outcome

Application for vesting order dismissed

Facts

The applicant rented a house in Rubaga which burned down while he was in Nairobi. One of the administrators of his late father's estate, Israel Katongole, moved the applicant's children and remaining belongings to the late father's property in Kabowa. Following a function where the Asian Community offered the applicant land at Entebbe, the applicant's late father offered him Plot 1032 Block 244 at Diplomat Rise, Muyenga, suggesting the applicant build on family land rather than Asian Community land. The late father had at one time evicted the applicant from the suit property and filed Civil Suit No. 488 of 1992 (later Civil Suit No. CU. CS 2514 of 2010) which was dismissed for want of prosecution. The applicant sought a vesting order in his favour. The respondents, administrators of the late father's estate, did not file a reply and were served by substituted service. The matter proceeded ex parte.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant is entitled to a vesting order under section 77 of the Registration of Titles Act in respect of Plot 1032 Block 244, Kyadondo, Diplomat Rise, Muyenga.
2. Whether the applicant has recovered land by any proceedings from a registered proprietor so as to invoke section 77 of the Registration of Titles Act.

Orders

• Application dismissed.
• No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (4)

• Registration of Titles Act Cap 230 s.77
• Civil Procedure Act s.98
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 52
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 9 r.11(2)

Cases cited (2)

• Kubibaire v Kakwenzire [1977] HCB 37
• Musoke v Kaye [1976] HCB 171

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