The government has won a legal battle over land belonging to the Njeru Government Stock Farm. But the victory has yet to translate into control of the property.
The National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) secured a High Court order cancelling titles that had been created over the government stock farm.
Yet an audit by the Auditor General found that the court order had not been enforced at the time of the audit, leaving the government agency in control of only 10 acres of the 367-acre farm.
The discrepancy has raised fresh questions over the protection and management of government land and is now being examined by Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises.
The committee plans to physically inspect the Njeru farm before determining how much of the land remains available to the government, how encroachment occurred and what happened to government property reportedly destroyed on the site.
From 367 acres to 10
The Auditor General’s findings paint a stark picture of the farm’s current state.
Of the 367 acres leased to NAGRC&DB, the agency controls just 10 acres. Much of the remaining land has been affected by encroachment, with former cattle paddocks reportedly converted to agricultural use and other sections graded for development.
The issue is not simply a dispute over land ownership.
It raises a broader question: what is the practical value of a court victory if government cannot regain physical control of the land it has been declared entitled to?
The High Court order cancelling the disputed titles appears to have provided a legal basis for reclaiming the property. But the Auditor General’s report indicates that, at the time of the audit, the order had not translated into effective enforcement on the ground.
Parliament goes to the farm
Rather than relying solely on documents and official accounts, the parliamentary committee is preparing to inspect the site itself.
The visit to Njeru is expected to help legislators establish the extent of encroachment, assess the condition of the remaining government facilities and determine what happened to property reportedly destroyed at the farm.
The inspection could also shed light on how the government-owned facility lost control of hundreds of acres despite having pursued the matter through the courts.
For NAGRC&DB, the stakes go beyond recovering a piece of land. The Njeru Government Stock Farm is part of Uganda’s public livestock infrastructure, meaning the loss or fragmentation of the property could affect the government’s ability to use the facility for its intended purpose.
The committee’s eventual findings will therefore be closely watched, not only for what happened at Njeru, but for what they reveal about the government’s ability to protect public land after winning in court.
