Ugandan court convicts man who sold journalist two plots with forged titles
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Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ritah Neumbe Kidasa has convicted Moses Mugalya of obtaining Shs55 million by false pretence after he sold two Wakiso District plots to journalist Jamila Mulindwa Namuyiga using forged certificates of title.
A Kampala court has convicted a man who obtained Shs55 million from a journalist by pretending to own and sell two plots of land in Wakiso District using forged land titles.
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ritah Neumbe Kidasa on Friday found Moses Mugalya, also known as Musajjawaza Achileo Migadde, guilty of obtaining money by false pretences, forgery and uttering false documents. The charges arose from an April 2022 transaction in which he sold two plots at Kiwale Nakwero to Jamila Mulindwa Namuyiga.
Court heard that Namuyiga, through a broker identified as Brian Wasswa, inspected the two plots on March 20, 2022, where she met Mugalya claiming ownership. A search showed that Kyadondo Block 167 Plot 9462 was registered in the name of Achileo Migadde Musajjawaza, while Plot 9463 belonged to Kalule Fred. Mugalya reportedly said he had bought the second plot but had not yet transferred it into his name.
On April 6, 2022, the parties met at Twed Towers in Kampala, where Mugalya presented duplicate certificates of title, transfer forms, a sale agreement and a national identity card bearing the name Achileo Migadde Musajjawaza. The price was Shs55 million; Namuyiga paid Shs48 million the same day in a written acknowledgement and cleared the remaining Shs7 million the following day at Kyebando.
When the documents were presented to the Ministry of Lands for transfer, officials discovered that both titles were forged. The Senior Registrar of Titles at the Kyadondo zonal office, Yusuf Kakere, found forged signatures of the registrar and other land officials and seals inconsistent with genuine documents, including titles bearing "Wakiso Office of Titles" instead of Kyaddondo. Kalule Fred testified that he had never met Mugalya and had not sold his land.
Rejecting the defence that the matter was a civil dispute, the magistrate held that prosecution had proved all three charges beyond reasonable doubt. "The fact that transfer was to follow does not turn a false statement of present ownership into a mere promise," she ruled, noting that the accused used an identity card bearing another person's name but carrying his own photograph and that he alone received the proceeds. Sentencing was set for November 9.