Court Throws Out 20-Year Land Claim Against Sudhir’s Speke Hotel in Comprehensive Ruling

By Gad Masereka 

A land dispute that has consumed more than two decades in Uganda’s courts came to a decisive end last week when the High Court in Kampala dismissed a claim by Dr Peter Musoke Gukiina against businessman Sudhir Ruparelia and Speke Hotel 1996 Limited, ruling that the complainant has no legal basis for his occupation claims over contested land in Wakiso District.

Justice P. Basaza-Wasswa delivered the judgment, finding that Gukiina had failed to establish any lawful or bona fide occupancy interest over plots in Kongero, specifically Busiro Block 443 Plots 49, 52, 74 and 76. The complainant had argued that agreements he entered into gave him kibanja rights over these plots as extensions of his recognised interest in Plot 50. The court rejected this argument comprehensively.

“The wording in each of the agreements is plain and unambiguous. The plaintiff purchased bibanja that were all situate only on Plot 50 and not on any other plot,” Justice Basaza-Wasswa held.

The judge further found that Gukiina’s attempt to use oral testimony to broaden his claim beyond what the written documents stated ran contrary to established principles of evidence, and drew an adverse inference from his failure to produce key witnesses including original land sellers.

On the central question of occupation rights, the ruling left no room for ambiguity. “His claim is rejected. He does not qualify to be a lawful occupant, nor a bona fide occupant,” the court stated. The judge also noted that in earlier legal proceedings, Gukiina’s claims had been confined to boundary disputes around Plots 50 and 75, and that he could not legitimately expand those claims to encompass additional plots in the current proceedings.

The court did, however, find that Speke Hotel’s perimeter wall had encroached on Gukiina’s legally recognised Plot 50 by approximately 0.09 acres. Rather than ordering demolition of the wall, Justice Basaza-Wasswa awarded compensation of Shs66.4 million for the encroached land and Shs15 million in general damages for inconvenience, with interest at 10 percent per annum until full settlement.

While that finding offers Gukiina limited relief, legal observers note that the overall judgment overwhelmingly favours Speke Hotel and Ruparelia, dismissing the broader claims of unlawful eviction, occupation and ownership that had formed the core of a dispute spanning the better part of two decades.

The ruling reinforces the primacy of written agreements in Uganda’s land transactions and clarifies the limits of kibanja rights in relation to registered proprietorship, adding an important precedent to a body of case law that courts and practitioners will continue to navigate.