But the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka roundly rejected that recommendation in a March 22, 2022, legal opinion to President Museveni.
“The recommendation of the COSASE sub-committee for Departed Asians Property Custodian Board to initiate the process for cancellation of repossession certificates acquired and any substitute titles is not capable of implementation in light of the existing case law.”
In a separate interview last week, the Attorney General said: “It was very clear, that what COSASE was asking us to do was not tenable under the legal regime, especially the cancellation of the certificate of title.”
The COSASE sub-committee had strongly recommended after a two-year investigation into the operations of DAPCB that properties, which were wrongly misappropriated be returned to the rightful owners. But Kiryowa says this is not legally tenable and can lead to various lawsuits against the government.
“Once the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has dealt with an expropriated property by issuing a repossession certificate (letter of repossession), a certificate of purchase, or certificate of receipt (letter of receipt), he or she has no power under the Act to cancel the certificate issued.”
“Even if there was an error on the part of the government, the minister cannot cancel a certificate of repossession.”
However, it should be remembered that past court rulings and legal opinions regarding the matter have gone against DAPCB. On August 15, 2019, former Attorney General William Byaruhanga told the ministry of Finance that properties of departed Asians had already been repossessed by the original owners and cannot be reallocated.
The former Permanent secretary in the Finance ministry, Keith Muhakanizi, also warned against the reallocation of properties belonging to departed Asians. In a March 23, 2018 letter to George William Bizibu, the executive secretary of the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB), Muhakanizi warned that it is only courts of law that can order the cancellation of a certificate of title of such property, and not the board or its members (some of whom are ministers).
“…where a repossession certificate for properties under the DAPCB had been issued, only the relevant courts of law had the authority to cancel such certificates in accordance with the law. It was agreed that the ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the board must continue to respect the rule of law. Therefore, any orders of court must be complied with,” Muhakanizi wrote.
Muhakanizi’s letter came on the coattails of the Auditor General’s report that accused high-ranking government officials of influencing certain actions and decisions of the DAPCB. The Auditor General’s report raised accountability queries against the Custodian Board including theft of public funds through fictitious compensations of up to Shs 1.7bn, double allocation of properties, forged land titles, sale of assets without proper valuation, and missing documents.
The February 2011 – March 2016 report of the Auditor General revealed that the board chaired by the Finance minister failed to maintain proper books of accounts and annual financial statements were not prepared.
In the process, billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money were misappropriated. The Auditor General’s report, for instance, found that Shs 50.2 million was not banked and lacked accountability documents at the time of audit. Another Shs15.2m was receipted as cash received but could not be traced in the bank statement. Also about Shs 500 million was spent directly from the collection account without the authority of the board.
The auditor general also found that several properties in prime areas of Kampala were acquired or registered in other people’s names. The auditor general inspected 139 properties in Jinja Municipal Council and found that the board did not appoint qualified professionals to value the properties.
There was no complete list of tenants and properties. The AG also discovered cases of duplicated allocation of properties, abandoned properties, irregular disposal of properties, arrears of ground rent, and unscrupulous property managers. He said the irregularities have resulted in the loss of government properties.
While appearing before COSASE in 2019, Bizibu acknowledged the accountability queries. During the interface with the MPs, Bizibu, who has been at the helm of DAPCB for about four years, said the board does not have information on the current ownership of several plots despite records showing compensation by the government.
It should be noted that DAPCB is currently battling many court cases over allegations of dubious allocation of Asian properties. Twenty-four families of Asian origin accuse DAPCB of giving away their properties located on Plot 98-104 Kampala road.
The families accuse the DAPCB under its executive secretary, Bizibu, of reallocating their properties to one Abdul Kasai. The families say the properties belonged to their relatives who were expelled by Idi Amin.
The families on October 12, 2021, asked court to issue a permanent injunction on the properties after finding out they had been fraudulently reallocated to another person.
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