KAMPALA, Uganda: Fired years back from the judiciary for taking bribes, the Bukholi North MP, Gaster Kyawa Mugoya is now facing fresh charges of using a fake land title to dispose of land belonging to a dead man. ‘Honorable’ Mugoya started off the scam by coaching a man to go to the land registry and request for a special certificate of title (SCT) on the excuse of having lost his (the proxy’s) original copy.
Upon obtaining the SCT, Mugoya is said to have gone around scouting for buyers of the land fronting his proxy as the owner of the same. The proxy was Hamad Ssenyonga. He is a trained secondary school teacher. At the time of the scam, he was teaching history and Islamic religious education at Mugoya’s Kibuli Girls Secondary school.
Ssenyonga managed to get a buyer in businessman Chimanbhai Racnhchodbhai Patel. Having received assurances from Ssenyonga regarding the ownership of the land located at Bukesa-Namirembe, Patel blindly parted with his hard-earned dimes and paid for the land.
He paid in dollars equivalent to Ugx280m at the exchange rate of 1630US per dollar. Mugoya is said to have used the money to buy another school, Manchester High School in Bugiri. The payment has since grown close to UGX1Bn factoring in the stamp duty fees as well as money Patel paid brokers. The transaction took place in 2008.
But Patel is now cursing the day he chose to deal with Mugoya and Ssenyonga. The high court has since ruled that what he bought was actually hot air. That the land Mugoya’s proxy claimed to be his belonged to a dead man, actually.
The dead man was Leonard Martin Ddumba. By the time the Indian fell into Mugoya’s trap, the land had actually changed hands to the administrators of the estate of Ddumba known as Beatrice Matovu, Iga Musisi and Joanita Namulindwa.
Following the court finding, the land registry has since cancelled the title they had issued to Patel and the land reverted to the administrators of the estate of Ddumba. What steps is Patel taking to recover his money? The businessman has since dragged Mugoya and Ssenyonga to court demanding refund of what he paid them with interest and damages that is in the range of one billion Uganda shillings.
Reached for a comment, Mugoya did not deny anything. His only misgiving is that Patel had misfired in rushing to court. “We should have used mediation to resolve that matter. His lawyers misadvised him to take the court route before subjecting the matter to mediation,” is all Mugoya said without denying having earned from selling air.
The Investigator is in possession of Ssenyonga’s story revealing how Mugoya trapped him into this scam as well as the role senior lawyer, Peter Mukidi Walubiri played in this saga. Watch this space.
By Stephen Kasozi Muwambi
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