Wandukwa and 3 Others v Wakhasa (Civil Appeal No. 104 of 2019) [2021] UGHCLD 187 (2 August 2021)

In the court a quo, the respondent filed a suit claiming against the appellants jointly and severally for a declaration that he was the lawful owner of the suit land situated in Mbale District. 

It was the respondent’s case that he is the bona fide owner of the land in dispute, having purchased it in 1964 and that since the purchase, he has been using the suit land with his family for the cultivation of food crops and grazing cattle.

The trial magistrate found that the respondent asserted ownership of the suit land by purchase in 1964 and 1967, while the appellants claimed ownership over the suit land by inheritance from their respective fathers. Judgment was given in favour of the respondent, whose evidence the magistrate found more consistent as to how he acquired the suit land. The appellants were aggrieved with the judgement and filed the present appeal.

The trial magistrate found and considered contradictions in the appellants’ case which included the boundaries between the suit land and the respondent’s land. The magistrate found the respondent’s case consistent with how the suit land was acquired and held that the suit land belongs to the respondent. The court of appeal agreed with the trial magistrate and dismissed the appeal with costs.