Former Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) staff Steven Semanda boasted before Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s land probe that he has been a forgery expert since his childhood.

Semanda testified that he has on several occasions been charged in different courts and recorded a number of police statements on uttering forged documents.

“Yes, it’s true I have been making a lot of forgeries but much of the time it’s my friends who ask me to forge documents for them. My Lord, I also don’t want be named to be in such things,” Semanda said. He told the commission that the evil of uttering forged documents started when he was still a young man.

“It was foolish but I forged my father’s signature and withdrew his money from his bank account,” Semanda added. Justice Bamugemereire the chairperson of the commission asked him whether he was the one behind the forging of documents indicating that the 28 acres of land in Kitezi were owned by his brother Charles Mulinde.

Bamugemereire cited the testimony of Mulinde who told the commission that he never owned the contested land but one day, he received a phone call from Semanda asking him to meet and sign certain documents for him. Mulinde said that it was his other brother Apollo Lumu who stopped him from signing the said documents because he (Semanda) was targeting their father’s estate.  Mulinde further told the commission that Semanda was fired from URA after forging documents and embezzling a lot of money.

Semanda admitted that he forged the said documents but clarified that he did it under pressure from his brother Lumu who wanted to own their father’s land saying their elder brothers were not serious.  He denied proceeding with the process because his elder brother Dr. Fred Kambugu warned him to stop forging documents with the aim of stealing their family’s land.

Dr. Kambugu, the Kampala skin clinic boss ran to the commission claiming that there are people who fraudulently grabbed their father’s estate including their family members.

The commission is still investigating the matter.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

President Museveni’s former press secretary Joseph Tamale Mirundi has revealed that there are many signs showing that the mafias in president Museveni’s government are fighting each other over money and power.

“You know we intellectuals have information that mafias are fighting each other that is why dead bodies are now being thrown on the streets. Mafias here are very deadly and I’m telling you Uganda will end up like Somalia, they are going to kill themselves,” Mirundi, who was hosted on Pearl FM radio on Saturday said.

He noted that the mafias in Museveni’s government first fought and chased all the people who were loyal to Museveni under the guise of preventing them from stealing tax payers money. Mirundi said that by the time Museveni supporters like him, Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Asuman Lukwago were kicked out, the mafias were working together.

Mirundi however said that their tormenters have now developed misunderstanding over money and power that’s why they are fighting each other.

The self-claimed media consultant and private investigator further revealed that the mafias in government have guns which they are using now to kill themselves, he gave an example of the gruesome murder of Joshua Nteyireho Ruhegyera and Mary Tumukunde who were gunned down on Entebbe express highway. Mirundi rubbished the arrests made by Uganda police and other security agencies over the current string of murders and kidnaps adding that the arrested suspects never committed these crimes.

By Jamil Lutakome

The troubles befalling former finance minister who is also the general manager of Radio one, Akaboozi kubiiri Maria Rhoda Nabasirye Kiwanuka keep pilling each day.

A senior Mulago hospital doctor has now dragged her to the commission of inquiry into land matters for grabbing their 9 acres of land in Munyonyo Kampala.  Rhone Irene Lubega Nabukeera testified before the commission of inquiry into land matters that her father the late Solomon Lubega Byatike Matovu (60) bought 9 acres of land on Kyadondo Block 257 plot 5 from prince Alfred Kigaala, a son to fallen Buganda King, Sir Daudi Chwa in 1964.

“According to the agreement we found at the department of mapping and surveying in Entebbe, our father fully paid the money for the land and lodged a caveat on it to stop unscrupulous people from selling it again, unfortunately, he died before transferring the land into his names,” Nabukeera said.

She told the commission that as a family, they knew that their father left land in Munyonyo but they did not have the documentations until 2006 when a one Yusuf Mukasa, a friend to their late father brought to them the documents.

She said that they went to the registrar of land titles in the Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development to find out the status of their late father’s land. She narrated that at the ministry of lands, they were told that the ministry cannot locate their land because it was still in folios even though it was still caveated. They further advised them to consult Entebbe department of mapping and surveying.

She testified that at Entebbe, they carried out an investigation and found out that their land was subdivided was currently on Kyadondo Block 257 plot 5 and 433. Their findings further revealed that the land was registered in the names of Ambrose Wafumba in 1975.

They further discovered that the land was transferred from Wafumba and registered in Alima investments Uganda limited which is owned by Maria Nabasirye Kiwana  Kiwanuka, Margate Kiwana, Nakato Mbekeka, Margate Ndibalekera and Janet Nkabidwa, the shareholders of Alima investments. She revealed that efforts to speak to the owners of Alima investments limited were futile and they decided to use legal means. However, every lawyer they approach for assistance abandoned them. Nabukeera revealed that they discovered that there was an invisible hand influencing lawyers to abandon them.

However, Nabukeera found a tough time when commissioner Dr. Rose Nakayi, a Makerere University law don tasked her to present evidence that the land in question was sold to her father.

Nakayi, basing on the documents before the commission told Nabukeera that the land was owned by King Daudi Chwa on behalf of Buganda so his son Kigaala had no powers to sell it.

In response, Nabukeera insisted that the land was given to Kigaala by Chwa so he owned the land in his personal capacity.  She further testified that even her late mother Dorothy Nasolo benefitted from that land as a daughter to king Chwa.

Former Buganda minister Robert Sebunya supported Nabukeera that the said land was owned by King Chwa in his personal capacity not a king. 

Justice Catherine Bamugemereire the chairperson of the commission promised Nabukeera that very soon, Maria Kiwanuka and others will be summoned to explain how they got the contested land.

Maria Nabasirye Kiwanuka is still battling with her husband’s son Sebuliba Kiwanuka who dragged her to the high court civil division accusing her of fraudulently changing the administration of their father’s companies including Oscar industries limited. Sebuliba asked High Court judge Musa Sekana to issue an order to have his father Mohan Kiwanuka’s mental status examined claiming that her step mother Nabasirye is using him to sign strange documents giving her powers to administer his properties.

By Jamil Lutakome