By The Insight Post Uganda
Mukono, Uganda
Jackson Twinamasiko, a prominent entrepreneur in Mukono district, has requested court to suspend the criminal charges filed against him in connection with a land dispute until the simultaneous civil cases, already pending in the High Court, are resolved.
This legal battle began on August 1, 2023 when Twinamasiko went to the Crime Investigations Department (CID) in Kibuli. His initial purpose was to pursue a complaint he had lodged against a police officer, Ben Mugisha, who served in the Kibuli land protection desk. Surprisingly, the police officers he found there detained instead.
Although he was eventually granted a police bond, Twinamasiko’s freedom was short-lived. On August 3, he faced accusations of deliberate property damage, boundary infringement, and trespassing on land claimed by Major Mark Wanyama, situated on Mbeya, an island in Mpunge Sub-County, Mukono District. These charges led him to appear before the Magistrate’s Court, where he was granted bail.
Today, when presented before the Chief Magistrate, Roselyn Nsenge, on those charges, Twinamasiko’s attorney, Steven Turyatunga, contested the prosecution’s motion to postpone the proceedings on clear grounds that the case before the court is civil in nature but has been wrongly framed as a criminal matter to benefit the complainant.
Turyatunga’s counterargument was compelling. He asserted that both the complainant and the accused had initiated civil suits in the High Court, seeking a declaration of land ownership. Furthermore, these suits had already been scheduled for hearings on distinct dates.
To substantiate his point, Turyatunga presented an injunction issued by the High Court, permitting the defendant to continue using the disputed land while restraining the complainant from accessing it.
“Given the absence of a clear land ownership, both parties remain in court, seeking a determination of the rightful owner. The charges of trespass, malicious damage, and removal of boundaries are, in the first place, premature and represent a secondary misuse of the court’s procedures. Consequently, I request the court to either dismiss these charges or, as an alternative, suspend them until the resolution of the civil suits currently before the High Court,” Turyatunga said in a concluding statement.
In response to these compelling arguments, the prosecution requested additional time to review the legal citations presented by Turyatunga.
“The Council for the defendant has submitted pertinent issues and backed them with the law. Please try as much as you can to prepare your response and we get this matter concluded,” the presiding magistrate told prosecution before adjourning the session to September 28, 2023.
Outside the courtroom, Twinamasiko voiced concerns over his personal safety. He claimed that individuals linked to Major Mark Wanyama and security forces were pursuing him with malicious intent.
He recounted a disturbing incident on July 31 when Ben Mugisha, accompanied by a dozen armed individuals, surrounded his workplace without official summons from CID headquarters. These actions have left Twinamasiko deeply troubled by recent security agency activities.
In response, Crispus Asiimwe, the legal representative for Major Wanyama, dismissed these allegations as baseless, contending that they were intended to deter his client from pursuing the land dispute.
As the legal battle unfolds, Jackson Twinamasiko finds himself entangled in a complex web of legal and security concerns, with the resolution of the civil suits before the High Court holding the key to his future pit as renewable energy
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English 