Court orders retrial of Ndeeba church land ownership case

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Principal Judge Dr Flavian Zeija has ordered for the retrial of the case pertaining to the ownership of St Peter’s Church Ndeeba land.

The demolition of St Peter’s church that occurred in 2020 was the climax of a decades-long property wrangle between the Church of Uganda and the joint administrators of the estate of the late Evelyn Nachwa, a Buganda Kingdom Princess.

Available documents indicate that in 2008, the joint administrators including Dan Ssemanga, John Kajoba, Edward Bulunga and Steven Nakibinge, sued the Church of Uganda, the Commissioner of Land Registration and other parties accusing them of fraudulently registering the said land in the names of Bishop Danistan Nsubuga, Rev Yuda Kitaka, and Esau Kizito.

The case was never disposed of, until August 21, 2019, when the High Court Land Division Judge John Eudes Keitirima ruled that the land in question was still in the vested interest of the late Evelyn (Evarini) Nachwa and that it had been fraudulently registered in the names of Bishop Danistan Nsubuga, Rev Yuda Kitaka, and Esau Kizito.

With Keitirima’s ruling, the court had given the ownership of the land that had housed St Peter’s Ndeeba Church of Uganda for 50 years to the joint administrator of the estate of the late Evelyn Nacwa, who later sold it to Dodoviko Mwanje’s Ephraim Enterprises Limited. The company later went ahead to evict and eventually demolish the church.

Lucy Nsubuga (acting on behalf of the estate of her later husband Bishop Danistan Nsubuga) contested the ruling and petitioned the Principal Judge saying among others, that the court decision by the Land Division Judge John Eudes Keitirima was based on false information fabricated by a city lawyer Ambrose Tebyasa who claimed to have received instructions from her.

In his ruling on Monday, the Principal Judge noted that the only way an advocate can prove instructions is by way of providing a written instruction. However, he said this could neither be seen in the defence’s submissions nor in the court proceeding of the main suit under review.

“…I am unable to discern the motive of counsel Ambrose Tebyasa in taking over the case or continuing a case where he did not have instructions from the applicant, whichever the motive it was, it denied the applicant her right to be heard. Consequently, it is apparently clear that the applicant didn’t participate in the proceedings leading to the judgement against her,” Dr Zeija’s ruling reads in part.

According to the Principal Judge, the entire proceeding essentially never followed basic principles of natural justice which requires that a person should receive a fair and unbiased hearing before a decision is made that will negatively affect them.

“…denial of a right to be heard is a grave illegality that it cannot be condoned by any reasonable court of law…the denial of hearing override all questions of the proceeding including any admission made therein,” the ruling adds in part.

Consequently, the Principal Judge has quashed Justice Keitirima’s decision and directed that since right now it’s not contested that Ephraim Enterprises is the registered proprietor of the land, this company should be added as a party in this case so that all issues related to the suit land are heard and determined once and for all.

Meanwhile, during the court proceedings, Nsubuga sought court orders to halt the then proposed compensation of Dodovico Mwanja by the government pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit where she is challenging the ownership of the land.

Government decided to compensate city businessman Dovodiko Mwanje with 3.8 billion Shillings.

In an application, Nsubuga said that the government had decided in total disregard of her grievances regarding the judgment of the high court which resulted in the transfer of ownership of land comprising Kibuga block 7 plot 39 at Mengo to Mwanje.

Besides this particular matter at hand, Mwanje together with 18 others are still facing criminal charges related to the theft of church property valued at more than 850 million shillings and conspiracy to demolish it. This particular case is still pending before the Anti-Corruption Court.

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