The Church of Uganda has won a legal battle against business magnate Charles Mbire of Polilina Estates, after Justice Sekana declined to subdivide the Church’s certificate of land title. Mbire had demanded a separate plot of land be created for his business interests on the property donated to the Church by former Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada in 1974, located on Akii Bua Road in Kampala.
The ruling rejected the Church’s prayer to cancel the title in respect of the land comprised in Plot M180 off Akii Bua Road and also rejected an application to amend the acreage on the Church’s title to 0.558 hectares. Justice Sekana stated that there were “serious issues to be determined in a proper suit to conclusively deal with the challenges on the land.”
Court documents showed that the Church of Uganda entered into possession of the land in question in 1974 but the property was only transferred into its name in 2006. The certificate of title did not indicate the size of the land which led to the Church of Uganda requesting the Commissioner Land Registration to indicate the correct size of 0.558 hectares in 2018.
However, the Commissioner Land Registration indicated a size of 0.301 hectares, stating that part of the land described as Plot M180 had been leased to Polina Estates.
