Family left homeless as husband sells marital home to pay SACCO loan

Luweero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A woman and her two children in Luweero town are facing eviction from their marital home which her husband sold to allegedly finance a loan.

Robinah Margaret Nansubuga, 43, a resident of Kalongomiti zone in Luweero town told URN that a man identified as John Zziwa emerged last month claiming to have bought the home from her husband Mike Kasule without her consent.

Nansubuga adds that the husband and local leaders later forced her to consent to an agreement that she will leave the house by August 30. She explains that before the incident, the husband had abandoned her and the children in the house only to resurface after selling it off.

Nansubuga has now appealed to Luweero district probation office and human rights organizations asking them to save her from the impending eviction.

Erasto Kibirango of Wetaka, Kibirango and Company Advocates has described the sale as illegal and he will soon challenge it in court on behalf of Nansubuga. Kibirango says that it’s unlawful to sale a marital home without the consent of the wife.

According to the Land Act, no person is allowed to mortgage, give away, transfer, sale, or lease family land without the consent of the spouse. URN was unable to reach Mike Kasule to comment on the allegations against him because his contacts are out of reach at the moment.

But John Zziwa, the alleged buyer insists that Nansubuga must vacate the house because she witnessed the sale in 2016 when he gave them 5.7 million Shillings to partly repay a loan acquired from a local SACCO and use the balance to relocate to another place. Zziwa accuses Nansubuga of disowning the sale after disagreeing with the husband on relocating to another place.

Luweero District Probation Officer Joyce Namigadde says that six out of ten cases reported in the district every month involve evictions or wrangles over marital homes. Namigadde adds that the cases have escalated during the COVID-19 lockdown as husbands sale homes to get money to survive after losing jobs.

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