Controversial Legacy Credit company limited Tycoon Ben Kavuya has hired Justice Oscar Kihika’s law firm of Kihika Byenkya and Company Advocates to battle Kampala Associated Advocate (KAA) founding partner who also doubles as State Minister in charge of Land Dr. Sam Mayanja in a Shs3bn defamation case.
Kavuya filed a defamation case before Masaka High Court seeking a declaration that Mayanja, a celebrated commercial lawyer defamed him before well thinking members of the public when he branded him a land grabber.
He further claimed that Mayanja made demeaning and inciting statements against him before the public.
Kavuya claims that Mayanja damaged his name because the statement went viral both in mainstream media and on social media damaging his reputation as a businessman which he has built for a long time.
He wants court to order Mayanja to compensate him Shs3bn.
He admitted to owning the contested land in Lwengo district which he says he bought legally and is on good terms with the neighbours.
He accuses Mayanja of trying to incite his neighbours to turn against him.
Mayanja was given 15 days to file his defense.
However, speaking to theGrapevine, Minister Mayanja boasted that he is going to floor Kavuya to the extent that he will be the one to compensate him.
“Since President Museveni appointed me a minister, over 18 cases have been filed against me before the courts of law and I have been winning one by one. I’m telling that man that I’m going to defeat him like I did to others,” Mayanja said.
He revealed that his lawyers are going to file a strong defense this week, and they will subject Kavuya for cross-examination to expose him before court and show him that he doesn’t have that reputation he claims he has.
Mayanja said that Kavuya will tell court how he knew about the meeting before it was held and he sent his to record whatever he told the tenants who he was threatening to evict.
He said that Kavuya is relying on the said audio recordings as evidence against him, that is why he wants to know why he sent agents to record him if he had no issue with the locals in the area.
During the Lwengo meeting, Mayanja threatened to arrest all people named in land grabbing in the area including Kavuya.
He boasted that president Museveni appointed him as lands minister to save poor tenants from mafias and land grabbers who illegally want to evict them from their legally owned bibanja.
He divulged that he is not going to be threatened by people like Kavuya, instead, he will continue mobilizing bibanja owners to fight for their land rights and resist illegal eviction from their bibanja.
He added that he is ready to pay the price.
This is not the first time Kavuya is being dragged in land grabbing. During Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s land probe, he was accused of pulling out a gun to threaten people who were trying to resist his land grabbing tactics.
Nichols Richard Dumba, a 36-year-old Welder testified before Justice Bamugemereire’s Commission that Kavuya wanted to kill him and his family members over 2 acres of land situated on Kyadondo block 216 plot 221 on Kulambiro Hill, Nakawa Division Kampala city.
Dumba told the Commission that Kavuya threatened him with his pistol in one of the meetings he held with him to solve the matter amicably, he boasted in the middle of the meeting that he is going to report Dumba to president Museveni because he is his close friend.
To show that he was serious, Kavuya immediately made a phone call and jumped out of the meeting, speaking on top of his voice that, “Mr. President, this young boy wants to grab my land,” Dumba quoted Kavuya before Bamugemereire’s commission.
However, Kavuya denied all the allegations made against him before the commission claiming that he legally bought the said land.
He admitted before the commission that he holds a licensed gun but denied all the allegations of using it to threaten Dumba adding that he knows President Museveni at a business level but not on a personal level as Dumba testified.
By Hadijjah Namagembe
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