A Woman & her Land - Uganda Land Alliance

Case StudiesMwebaze and Co. Advocates, Ganyana rushedto Legal Aid Project as a last resort intervention.They appealed to the Deputy High CourtRegistrar Margaret Muntonyi, who immediatelyoverturned the vacation order in her ruling anddirected the District Police Commander Hoimato “Put back Ganyana Florence in the house,pending determination of their appeal.The case later took a significant twist when LAPFlorence Ganyana and her mother Cecilia Basala during the interviewat her home in Hoima districtjudgment [Dated and stamped February 2nd 2010], theChief Magistrate A.G Opifemi equally erred by makingextra orders that Ganyana vacates the premises. Theruling read in part, “The Magistrate Grade II doesnot have powers to resolve land disputes even underthe guise of resolving family matters. By doing soin this case, he exceeded his powers by trying a casefor which he did not have legal authority…For thismatter…it is ordered that the respondents pay the costsof the appeal…It is also ordered that the respondentsvacate the premises… until a competent court ordersotherwise.” It is at this point that the Chief Magistrate’scompetence had to come under scrutiny.Having won the case, Ganyana’s step brothers quicklysecured police and court brokers and had the oldwoman’s property thrown out. Her house was locked.Her elderly mother Cecilia Bazaala [possibly in her late80s] compounds the entire story, “whenever she wouldgo to court, I would stay outside in the cold. The rainat the time was so heavy as it is nowadays. It rained onus a lot.”Upon being tipped off by a Private Lawyer Chris ofrequested the Deputy registrar to engage theparties in a mediation exercise, whereupon theyagreed to share the land in question. A consentjudgment was signed by all parties on the conflictdivide, to the effect that the property of the lateBagada Yowasi, be divided equally among his 5children and widow in equal shares. When wevisited Ganyana on her shared property in Busisivillage on June 14th, 2011, she had just completeda semi-permanent home with iron sheetscontributed by the Christians in her village. Shesaid with a lot of joy on her face,“If it hadn’t been for LegalAid Project, they had finishedus. Now we can sleep and livehappily”Ganyana may not have retained all that belongedto her as per the father’s will, but according toher, the very fact that the sharing aspect restoredharmony in the home, was the master piece she’llkeep on her memory forever.19