The Kampala district land board in Uganda has been ordered to compensate four timber dealers after unlawfully leasing land they claimed they owned.
Although the Uganda Supreme Court decided that the claimants, Venansio Babweyaka, Johnson Mwijukye, Sempala Sengendo and Apollo Nabeeta, were not customary owners of the land in Ndeeba, it found that they were lawful occupants.
An original ruling had found the four to have no claim to the land and had dismissed the suit with costs, which led to an appeal from the four.
The dealers, who claim to have been operating a timber yard on the site since 1998, were awarded almost £8,000 after the Supreme Court said that the land board should have given priority to the dealers when leasing the land as they were sitting tenants.
