The Supreme Court of Uganda has overturned earlier court decisions in a 20-year land dispute involving former property dealer Patrick Kasulu.

The dispute dates back to 2004 when Nelson Ochaya Marie, the registered owner of a house located on Martyrs Lane in Ntinda, engaged Kasulu, then a prominent property agent and owner of the now-defunct Property Masters, to help him find a buyer for the property.

According to court records, Kasulu advised Ochaya to vacate the house to make it easier for prospective buyers to inspect the property.

Ochaya also handed over the land title certificate to Kasulu for purposes of marketing the house.

Court documents further indicate that a businessman identified as Kamenge Deudonne later expressed interest in purchasing the property.

Because the lease on the land had expired, Kamenge reportedly requested Ochaya to apply for a lease extension before the transaction could proceed.

Ochaya complied and handed over the application documents to Kamenge, who promised to process them. However, Ochaya later lost contact with both Kasulu and Kamenge and assumed the sale process had collapsed.

He was later shocked to discover that a fresh land grant had been issued in his name and that several entries had been made on the land title without his knowledge.

Records showed that the property had first been transferred to Kamenge and later sold to John Kabayo, who subsequently used it as security for a loan from Housing Finance Bank, leading to the registration of a mortgage on the title.

The matter resurfaced in August 2012 when Housing Finance Bank advertised the property for sale through a public auction after the loan reportedly fell into default.

Ochaya then filed a court case, arguing that he had never sold the property to Kasulu or any other person and had never signed transfer documents authorising the ownership changes.

In a lead judgment written by Justice Christopher Izama Madrama, the Supreme Court ruled that both the High Court and the Court of Appeal failed to address the central issue in the dispute.

The court faulted the lower courts for dismissing Ochaya’s case without first determining how Kasulu, who was never registered on the land title, allegedly managed to sell the property.

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