Kabaka Ronald Mutebi, the reigning Kabaka of Buganda
Justice David Matovu of the family division of the High Court nullified a consent judgement in a law firm, Wameli & Company Advocates had been given a stake in 250 square miles of Buganda Kingdom land. The same judgement had stated that the 250 square miles were part of the late Ssekabaka Daudi Chwa II estate. In his ruling, the judge argued that the judgment was illegally and wrongfully entered into given that the parties concerned like the Attorney General were not involved. He also said the ruling affected the Kabaka yet he was not party to the said suit which led to the erroneous consent judgment.
He therefore ruled that, the consent judgment of October 25, 2015 which was endorsed by the registrar of court on October 27, 2015 between M/S Wameli & Company Advocates and the assistant commissioner for surveys and mapping was null and void and was set aside.
The Kabaka of Buganda was represented by Kiryowa Kiwanuka of K&K Company Advocates with the help of Buganda Land Board’s legal department while Swabur Marzug represented Wameli
All Buganda kings have their own estates which they can sell to anybody or bequeath to their relatives. Kings also are free like anybody else to buy personal land. However, there is also land that is in the name of the Kabaka as an institution. This land is always inherited by the next Kabaka and therefore, relatives of a previous Kabaka cannot claim it.
This ruling means that proceedings revert back the claim stage and any enforcement action is also cancelled. The Chwa family can therefore not use the consent judgment to claim ownership of Buganda Kingdom’s land. Some members of the Chwa lineage have been using the now quashed consent judgment to claim the land and have on many occasions blocked compensations meant to be given to the Kabaka of Buganda claiming that the land was not his.