On 15 August 2024, the Court of Appeal of Uganda delivered its decision in the case of Kalungu Farm Ltd v Maluta Wilson William & the Commissioner Land Registration, C.A. Civil Appeal No. 314 of 2020. The appeal had been lodged by the appellant challenging the order of the High Court for cancellation of the appellant’s freehold certificate of title. The Court allowed the appeal and, in doing so, considered how competing legal interests in land should be dealt with.
To identify the competing legal interests in this case, a brief overview of the appellant's High Court suit is necessary.
The suit resolved around two certificates of title that were issued over the same piece of land at Kalanamu in Luwero District ("the suit land"). One was the appellant's freehold certificate of title which described the suit land as Freehold Register Volume 2 Folio 8 Kalungu Estate and showed that the appellant was registered as proprietor on 19th April 1968; and the other was a mailo certificate of title which described the suit land as Bulemzi Block 15 Plots 96 and 97 and showedthat the Administrator General (AG) was registered as proprietor on 9th April 2013. The AG was among the 8 persons that were named as defendants in the suit - some of the other persons included Muluta Wilson William, the Commissioner Land Registration, and Ms. Madina Nabukeera, a Lands Registrar at the Bukalasa Lands Office. The while essence of the suit was there to determine which of the two competing legal interests, that is, the two certificates of title, should prevail; since it is well-established that there cannot be two certificates of title over the same piece of land. Bashaija, J., held inter alia that the mailo title was validly created and he also made an order for cancellation of the appellant's freehold title - hence the appeal.
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Read the original publication at Kakuru & Co. Advocates