Court Orders Primary School to Pay UGX 3m for Grabbing Neighbour's Land

Kasese Grade I Magistrate’s Court has ordered Kisinga Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Primary School in Kisinga Town Council to pay a fine of three million to Ernest Baluku for using and falsely claiming ownership of his land. 

Baluku dragged the school and its trustees for allegedly taking over his land for the establishment of a school and a playground. 

The court presided over by Faishal Mbale Ngamije heard that two pieces of land, including one on which the school is built and another one for the playground, were obtained from Baluku on varying grounds.

In one, the Court found that Baluku offered the piece of land to the Seventh Day Adventist Church to establish a school, and thereafter the institution secured a lease and land title. The magistrate ruled that this piece of land couldn’t be claimed because it had already been titled. 

For the second piece of land, the Magistrate accused the leadership of the school for forging land agreements claiming that they had bought the land from another person in the name of Fripina in 1983 to establish a playground and yet the school was started in 1986. 

Ngamije explained that when he went through the documents and arguments from all the involved parties, he found out that the school was using Baluku’s land for many years and had dragged him to police on account that he was claiming the land that didn’t belong to him. 

The court ruled that the school pays 3 million Shillings for causing the arrest of Baluku when he had rights over the land.