The High Court in Kampala has dismissed preliminary objections filed by businessman Roland Amanya and court bailiff Nyiiro Joseph of Task Associates & Court Bailiffs in a long-running land dispute involving Alpha Merchants Limited, clearing the way for a full hearing of the case.
In a ruling delivered on May 25, 2026, Justice Isaac Bonny Teko rejected attempts by the defendants to block the suit at an early stage, saying the issues raised required a full trial and could not be decided through preliminary objections alone.
The dispute revolves around land located at Rwenkuba in Rukiga District. Alpha Merchants Limited claims it lent money to the late Eridad Kangye in 2001 and received the original land title as security for the loan. The company says it later lodged a caveat on the land in 2004 after Kangye allegedly failed to repay the money.
According to the company, the land was later attached and sold during execution proceedings to Roland Amanya through court bailiffs, despite the existence of its caveat and claimed equitable interest in the property. Alpha Merchants wants court to nullify the sale, cancel Amanya’s registration on the title, and restore both Kangye’s name and the company’s caveat on the land.
However, the defendants argued that the suit should be thrown out because the land title in question had allegedly been declared fraudulent in earlier court cases dating back to 1989 and 1994. They also argued that Alpha Merchants had no legal standing to sue and that the matter had already been conclusively decided by court, making it res judicata.
The defendants further maintained that because the title was allegedly invalid, Alpha Merchants could not derive any lawful interest from it and therefore had no valid claim before court.
But Justice Teko ruled that the objections raised disputed factual matters that could only be properly resolved after hearing evidence from both sides.
“The dispute is central to the merits of the suit,” the judge noted while rejecting the argument that the case was founded on an illegal title.
The judge also ruled that the company had established enough grounds at this stage to proceed with the case, noting that Uganda’s Mortgage Act recognises the deposit of a certificate of title as security for a loan, potentially creating an equitable mortgage.
On the issue of res judicata, Justice Teko observed that the current dispute involves different parties and events that allegedly occurred years after the earlier land battles between Ernest Bwana and Eridad Kangye.
“The present suit is not, on its face, merely a rehearing” of the earlier cases, the judge ruled.
Court eventually dismissed all the preliminary objections and directed that the case proceeds to full hearing, with costs to be determined after the final outcome of the main suit.
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