{UAH} Court okays razing Bugoma forest for sugarcane growing
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8:45 AM |
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By EPHRAIM KASOZI
A Court of Appeal judge has allowed the destruction of 22 Square miles of the disputed Bugoma Central Forest Reserve land in Hoima District to pave way for sugarcane growing.
Justice Frederick Egonda Ntende has dismissed with costs, an application in which the forestry authority had sought to temporarily block implementation of orders of the High Court.
"The applicant (National Forestry Authority -NFA) has failed to demonstrate that there is an imminent threat of alienating, selling, transferring, developing, executing or in anyway dealing, interfering with the status quo of the disputed land," Justice Ntende ruled on Friday.
NFA through its lawyers had filed the application seeking for express orders stopping the execution of High Court orders until their appeal is heard and determined.
Court documents indicate that NFA appealed against dismissal with costs a case in which it sued the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom Solomon Iguru Gafabusa over alleged encroachment and degradation on Bugoma Central Forest Reserve.
The Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom is jointly accused with Hoima Sugar Limited and Uganda Land Commission (ULC) over fraudulent concealment when he applied for a freehold title for part of the forest land which was granted by the ULC.
High Court sitting in Masindi before Justice Wilson Masalu Musene dismissed with costs the NFA case.
Justice Musene ruled that the accused parties did not commit any act of fraud in acquiring the title and that the transfer of the same title was lawful.
Court documents indicate that on August 1, 2016, the Omukama Gafabusa applied for a freehold certificate of title for the disputed land and he transferred it to Hoima Sugar Limited on August 5, 2016.
Justice Frederick Egonda Ntende.
The court relied on the evidence by the Commissioner for Surveys and Mapping, Mr George Wilson Ogaro, who testified that there is no information in regard to the survey and gazettment of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve.
In his sworn statement, Mr Ogaro told the court that the disputed land is outside Bugoma Forest Reserve.
The land under dispute is comprised at Plot 216, Buhanguzi Block 2, Hoima held by Hoima Sugar Limited, which forms part of Bugoma forest.
Justice Masalu did not award Shs90 billion claimed by Hoima Sugar Limited as damages against NFA for interfering with their work and Shs38 billion claimed by the Kingdom in damages.
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