Controversial city tycoon, Hamis Kiggundu, has asked the Registrar of land title registration, John Karuhanga for more time to respond to the Buganda Kingdom King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi’s evidence over the contested Kigo land.

On Friday last week, Kiggundu, the proprietor of Ham Enterprises Limited and Kiham Enterprises Limited, through his lawyers led by Fred Muwema, pleaded for more time to study the Kabaka’s evidence and come up with suitable answers.

Kabaka’s lawyers led by the Kingdom’s Attorney General, Owekitiibwa Christopher Bwanika, and lawyers from K & K Advocates, S & L Advocates didn’t object to Muwema’s prayer.

“It was a tactical move, you know for us advocates when you see that your colleague is not ready and wants more time to prepare himself, you don’t object to his prayer. That’s why we didn’t object to his request,” one of Kabaka’s lawyers said.

Sources at the Ministry of Lands told this website that Muwema reached the ministry an hour late from the time set to hear the petition and his clients, who were already at the ministry, were on phone claiming to call him.

Sources revealed that among the evidence that Kiggundu’s lawyers have to respond to includes an elaborate report signed by Commissioner Survey and mapping Wilson Ogaro who confirmed that Kiggundu’s land titles on Kyadondo Block 273 plot 23975, 23976, 23977, and Kyadondo Block 273 plot 8799, 110 at Kigo overlap the Kabaka’s old land titles.

In his report, Ogaro recommended that the commissioner of land registration be given an opportunity to do a survey with his technical team to establish the exact measurements of the overlap.

Sources at the ministry divulged that Kabaka’s lawyers welcomed the resurveying of the contested land by ministry officials and not private surveyors as Kiggundu’s lawyers were proposing.

However, one of Kiggundu’s lawyers told us that they are also ready and welcome the move to have officials from the ministry resurveying the contested land.

Muwema was given seven (7) days to respond to Kabaka’s evidence even though he was asking for 14 days.

Sources disclosed that once Muwema submits his evidence, both parties will meet again for guidance from the commissioner’s land registration before the final decision is reached.

Kabaka petitioned the commissioner land title registration seeking the cancellation of Kiggundu’s land titles claiming that they were illegally obtained and overlapped his on Kigo land.

Kiggundu first accepted the move after a meeting with Kabaka’s officials but later turned around and challenged Kabaka’s petition insisting that his land titles were legally obtained from Wakiso district land board.