The High Court has ordered Patrick Masambu, the former executive director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to remove his structures from a small portion of land in Bugolobi, that is owned by Omar Ahmed (aka Mandela) and his brothers. The portion is roughly 10 feet by 5 feet (54 square meters).
The ruling, delivered by Justice Naluzze Aisha Batala, ends an eight-year legal battle over the piece of land which is the size of a small room.
The case began when Mandela and his brothers, Hassan Ahmed and Hussein Ahmed discovered in 2014 that part of Masambu’s property overlapped onto their Plot 12 Young Avenue in Bugolobi.
Mandela and his brothers, who bought their land in 2015, hired a surveyor before starting construction on a family home. The survey revealed that Masambu’s fence and buildings, which he inherited when he purchased his adjacent Plot 57A Luthuli Avenue in 1995, extended slightly over the shared boundary.
“Trespass happens when someone enters or uses another person’s land without permission,” explained Justice Batala in her judgment.
She noted that this kind of overlap, known as encroachment, is common in older subdivisions like this one, which originated from a larger plot owned by the National Housing and Construction Corporation in the 1990s.
Mandela and his brothers tried to resolve the issue amicably, first speaking to Masambu’s son and later meeting Masambu himself in 2016. But Masambu refused to adjust his structures, insisting he had only developed what he bought and had lived there peacefully for over 20 years.
Frustrated, the brothers filed a lawsuit in 2017, asking the court for an eviction order, compensation for the unauthorized use of their land, and legal costs.
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Masambu defended himself by arguing the suit was “time-barred,” meaning it was filed too late under Uganda’s Limitation Act, which sets a 12-year deadline for land recovery claims. He claimed the overlap dated back to 1995 and that he was a “bona fide occupant”. He also said the brothers should have checked the boundaries before buying.
But the court disagreed with Masambu. Justice Batala ruled that trespass on land is a “continuing tort,” which means the wrongdoing doesn’t stop until the intruder leaves.
“The brothers only learned about the encroachment in 2014 through the survey, so their lawsuit in 2017 was within the legal time limit,” she said.
Relying on the unchallenged survey report as key evidence, the judge declared Masambu a trespasser on the disputed land and ordered him to vacate the area within 90 days.
The court awarded Mandela and his brothers Shs 10 million in general damages, plus 10% annual interest from the judgment date until paid.
This compensation accounts for the loss of use of their land, although the judge noted the encroachment seemed accidental and partly due to the brothers’ delay in surveying. The brothers will laso have their legal costs covered by Masambu. However, Justice Batala encouraged both sides to negotiate a settlement.
“Given the existing structures, altering the land could cause more harm and strain ties between neighbours,” she advised.
