Anti-Corruption Court has sentenced three former officials from Lira District Local Government to four years in prison each after finding them guilty of fraudulently acquiring public land through abuse of office.
The fourth convict is a private individual who was used to register the land and he was also sentenced to one year in prison for her role in the scheme.
The convictions conclude a case that has been before the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court since 2023 and marks another successful prosecution in the government’s campaign against corruption involving public land.
Anti-corruption court sentenced Opio Francis a former District Staff Surveyor, Otike Pabius a former District Natural Resources Officer, Ogwanga Joel, a Cartographer at the Ministry of Lands’ Lira Zonal Office to four years’ imprisonment and Atoo Rebecca a private individual and sister to Opio Francis, to one year imprisonment.
In addition to their prison sentences, the three public officials were barred from holding public office for the next 10 years.
The court found them guilty of abuse of office, fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title and conspiracy to defraud.
According to the prosecution, the offences were committed between February and August 2019 when Lira District Local Government began the process of obtaining a land title for Ireda Estate.
Investigators told the court that during the survey process Opio Francis and Otike Pabius deliberately excluded a section of the district’s land from the official survey.
With the assistance of Ogwanga Joel prosecutors said the excluded land was then used to fraudulently obtain a freehold certificate of title for Plots 3-5 Ben Emor Road, Ireda Estate.
The land was subsequently registered in the name of Atoo Rebecca.
The prosecution further argued that after the title had been issued, Atoo Rebecca sold the land to a private buyer with the three public officials participating in and witnessing the transaction.
The court accepted the prosecution’s evidence and convicted all four accused.
The case was opened on 20 June 2023when the State House Anti-Corruption Unit working jointly with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) arraigned the suspects before the Anti-Corruption Division.
Following a trial spanning more than three years, the court found that the prosecution had proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
Cases involving fraudulent acquisition of public land remain one of Uganda’s most persistent corruption challenges.
Government institutions have repeatedly raised concerns over the manipulation of land records, abuse of public office and the use of private individuals as proxies to obtain titles for government property.
The Ministry of Lands, district land offices and local governments have frequently been the focus of investigations into alleged land fraud prompting calls for stronger oversight and tighter controls over land registration processes.
These convictions are the latest in a series of prosecutions pursued by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit as the government intensifies efforts to recover public assets and hold public officials accountable for abuse of office.
Officials have repeatedly said corruption involving public land not only deprives government institutions of valuable assets but also undermines public confidence in land administration.
The imprisonment of the three former public officials and their disqualification from public office is expected to reinforce the government’s message that abuse of public trust and fraudulent dealings in public land will attract criminal sanctions.
