ROHANA: How Indians’ Body Connived With Former Ubos Boss Mashate To Defraud Woman of Lugogo Bypass Land

By Isaac Mutema

The hirtheto impeccably regarded Rohana Indian Community has been shamed as a land grabber.

Word from court indicates that the Indian association ganged up with the former boss of Uganda bureau of statistics (UBOS), Francis Waduyi Mashate to grab land belonging to a woman.

It started by Mashate selling the plot of land registered as 58A next to Kensington apartments along Lugogo By Pass in Kampala, to a lady known as Winnie Nakiwala.

This transaction transpired on December 2, 2010. The agreement of the transaction indicates that Mashate was selling his interest in that land and developments thereon.

On the day of the execution of the agreement, the purchaser made a thirty million Uganda shillings deposit payment to Mashate.

Mashate affixed his name and signature to the agreement to acknowledge receipt of the deposit. Nakiwala signed the agreement as the purchaser.

Two other gentlemen: Umar Sekajja and Joseph Mutesasira witnessed the two-paged agreement.

Nakiwala would finally clear the twenty million shillings balance of the purchase price by January 2, 2011. She had by that time taken over possession of the plot and developments thereon, as per the sale and purchase agreement.

Yet, nine years later and following the completion of the deal, Mashate ganged up with the Indian association of Rohana to deprive the lady of her land. The two agreed and Mashate sold Rohana the same piece of land to the Indian association.

The January 21, 2020 impugned deal, saw Mashate walking off with a cool one hundred million Uganda shillings courtesy of the deceit.

The money came in form of compensation for the crops which Mashate lied were his. Yet the same crops belonged to Nakiwala who had by now owned the land for nine years, having bought it from Mashate in 2011.

The hundred million was paid to Mashate, as per the memorandum of understanding, to vacate the land ahead of Rohana taking it up.

For the record, Rohana was constructing a huge storied structure by this time next to the land owned by Nakiwala.

Lacking land to extend the structure into, the Indian association bosses intrigued with Mashate to deprive Nakiwala of the land next to theirs.

This is how they ended paying the alleged compensation to Mashate and breaking down Nakiwala’s temporary structures as well as razed down her crops to find land for the extension of their structure under construction.

By encroaching on her land, the Indian association and Mashate deluded themselves that being a mere woman, she would kowtow to the criminality.

But how wrong the intriguers were! Nakiwala refused to leave the land even after her crops and structures had been razed. She put up other crops on the land and structures and has remained put todate!

Sensing that Nakiwala was unbwogable, Rohana and Mashate intrigued against her again. Rohana sued Mashate to provide vacant possession of the plot of land he had purportedly sold them.

The Indian association left out Nakiwala and ,conviniently so. They didn’t want her to spoil their intrigue by telling court She was on the land legally by the time Mashate sold it again having bought the land from him in the first instance.

As would be expected, Mashate didn’t show up in court. So, Rohana obtained a default judgement clearing them to evict Mashate and whoever was claiming interest by virtue of a claim against him.

A registrar of the high court, Flavia Nabakooza, incidentally, wasn’t too sharp to detect the Indians’ and Mashate games.

She ended up granting Rohana’s request. Rohana’s manager, Nilesh Lakhani smiled away with the ruling. He thought now that he was vested with the court order,they weren’t going to find any trouble chasing away a mere woman!

How shortsighted Mr Lakhani, and his chairman, Sanjay Thakrar, would later prove to have been! Upon learning of the impending eviction, Nakiwala filed an application for review of the judgement.

She secured her wish. Justice Henry Kaweesa ruled that it was foolish and deceitful of Rohana to leave out Nakiwala yet the order of evicting her directly affects her being the sitting owner of the plot of land they seek to extend into.

The judge said since Mashate chose to conveniently stay away, he was unable to believe Rohana’s assertions that he was the one in possession of the plot of land not Nakiwala.

Nor would Kaweesa believe, without hearing it from Mashate himself, that he didn’t sell the land to Rohana after selling the same to Nakiwala.

Also, the judge closed her ears to Rohana’s assertions that the crops and structures on the land belonged to Mashate not Nakiwala. But why not? Mashate chose to hide from court. No one would justify what Rohana was asserting on his behalf without him to back it up.

Ultimately, the judge permitted Nakiwala to join the case and defend her interests in the land, other than being pushed away from the land, without being accorded an opportunity to be heard, as Rohana wished.