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 A legal dispute between the National Forestry Authority (NFA) and investors in Namanve Industrial Park over land ownership. The investors claim the land is not part of a forest reserve, citing a court ruling, but NFA insists it is. The police are investigating the matter, seeking evidence to resolve the dispute.

Police have ordered the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to present irrefutable evidence proving that the contested land in Namanve Industrial Park is part of the Central Forest Reserve. 

The directive followed a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Martins Okoth Ochola, dated January 29, 2023, by one of the local investors, Liberty ICD Limited, which acquired land in Namanve Industrial Park. 

According to Liberty ICD, NFA wants to evict investors from the industrial park on grounds that it is a forest reserve, yet court ruled that it is not. 

As a result, Ochola instructed the director Criminal Investigations Directorate, Tom Magambo, to investigate the matter and give guidance on compartments utilised by NFA at Namanve Industrial Park. 

“Find attached a letter from Liberty ICD in respect of the above subject,” stated a letter signed by Assistant Inspector General of Police, Erasmus Twaruhukwa, on behalf of Ochola. 

The letter, dated February 2, 2024, was also copied to Liberty ICD. Ochola stated that the gist of the complaint is that NFA insisted on the existence of Namanve Central Forest Reserve on the disputed land yet the lands minister, the High Court and the Commissioner Mapping and Surveys in Entebbe confirmed that their land is not in the forest reserve.

“Although NFA claims that a Central Forest Reserve exists, it is noted that requests to NFA to prove their allegations remain not responded to,” the Police chief stated. 

According to Ochola, if the matter went to court and a judgement was given to the effect that the certificates of title issued in Namanve Industrial Park are valid, then it should be the status unless contrary legal evidence is produced. 

Ochola has, therefore, directed Magambo to task NFA with providing documentation proving that the contested land and that of several other investors fall within Namanve Central Forest Reserve so as to appropriately guide the ongoing investigations. 

In its petition, Liberty ICD wants NFA executive director Tom Okello, legal manager Moses Muhumuza and chief surveyor Edward Ssenyonjo, to furnish Police with evidence to prove their claims that six statutory instruments show that their land falls within Namanve Central Forest Reserve. 



“If no evidence is adduced, then the NFA bosses misled Parliament, investors and the general public and, therefore, all titles issued in the Industrial Park are valid,” Liberty ICD states. 

The company states that while compartments 1, 2,10, 13, 15, and 16 were purportedly de-gazetted, for some reasons, other neighbouring compartments were not included, including that where Roofings is located, which is number 12. 

According to Liberty ICD, Mukono High Court ruled that the compartments were only being used by NFA for administrative purposes and were not legally recognised, but the forestry body continues using the same in their communication, claiming that investors had encroached on compartments, thereby creating tension. 

In a 2022 court verdict, Justice David Batema (now Iganga High Court judge) ruled that the investors’ land measuring approximately 900 acres in Namanve Industrial Park is no longer a forest reserve. 

The judgement was in respect to a 2021 court case filed by Capital Ventures International Limited against the Commissioner Land Registration, NFA, and the Attorney General over land in Namanve Industrial Park. 

During the hearing, the lands ministry senior registrar of titles, Johnson Bigira Byiringiro, stated that compartments are management tools and are not legal.

Following the revelation, the judge ruled that statutory instrument number 1 of 1997 and statutory instrument number 63 of 1998 were flawed and left a lot to be desired.

The judge observed that the two instruments for gazetting and de-gazetting of land in Namanve forest reserve refer to maps in line with the legislation, but that the maps were unfortunately not gazetted as an attachment.

Batema said statutory instrument number 1 of 1997 was not legible, while statutory instrument number 63 of 1998 had no name or signature of its author and no date. However, the judge’s ruling has never been challenged.

Investors observed that President Yoweri Museveni directed that they be allocated land for development in Namanve, but that some of their colleagues were being blocked from acquiring it under the guise that it is a forest reserve.

The investors say some other developers have expressed interest in their land, which is the reason they are being inconvenienced.

Documents indicate that Dubai Port World was desirous of setting up an industrial hub on 500 acres of land at Namanve, but that they were also frustrated.

Also, Abu Dhabi Ports Company wanted land for investment, but it was equally frustrated.

Insights

In a letter dated April 29, 2022, addressed to Andrew Muyonga Mubiru, NFA claimed that the land belonging to Liberty ICD and 12 other investors forms part of Namanve Central Forest Reserve in Mukono district, a claim investor say is confusing.

Using the letter signed by NFA’s Okello, Mubiru petitioned Mukono High Court, seeking cancellation of certificates of title for the 13 investors, arguing that they were illegally issued by the Government.

In a rebuttal, the investors argued that Mubiru has no locus to sue them because he does not own property within Namanve Industrial Park.

The case is before Justice David Matovu. NFA’s Okello did not pick up calls to him. But the authority’s spokesperson, Julie Mubi, said there were titles that were illegally created in the forest reserve, which they want cancelled.

Mubi said she was not aware of the court ruling validating the contested titles. When Justice Matovu visited the locus on November 24, 2023, NFA lawyer Muhumuza stated that Roofings was in compartment 12 and that their premises would be demolished.

When asked by the judge what they would do with Roofings’ land, Muhumuza said NFA would plant trees on it.