The long-running controversy surrounding the National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) acquisition of land in Temangalo, Wakiso District, has returned to the centre of parliamentary scrutiny, nearly two decades after the controversial transaction was first exposed.
Members of Parliament on the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) have inspected NSSF’s Temangalo property, where 55 acres remain at the centre of a fresh ownership and possession dispute involving businessman Amos Nzeyi, one of the original vendors of the land.
The disputed portion includes an animal farm and two houses occupied by Nzeyi. NSSF told the MPs that although the Fund holds the titles to the property, Nzeyi has continued occupying the land and has denied the Fund access.
The latest confrontation adds a new chapter to a saga that began in 2008, when NSSF purchased approximately 463.87 acres in Temangalo for about Shs11.2 billion, at a reported price of roughly Shs24–25 million per acre. The transaction involved businessman Amos Nzeyi and AMA Limited, associated with former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.
NSSF Senior Manager for Enforcement and Litigation, Isaac Ogwang, told the committee that the Fund has since moved to reclaim physical possession of the disputed property.
According to the latest account before COSASE, NSSF issued Nzeyi a notice on June 15, 2026, requiring him to vacate the property by the end of June. With the deadline passing without the property being handed over, the Fund has begun the process of seeking a court order to evict him.
The dispute is particularly striking because NSSF says it already owns the relevant titles and has developed part of the wider Temangalo property, yet remains unable to exercise full control over a section of land for which it says it acquired legal ownership.
A land deal that shook NSSF
The Temangalo purchase became one of Uganda’s most politically explosive public-sector investment controversies after Parliament began questioning why NSSF had bought such a large tract of land without an open bidding process.
In September 2008, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) entered the investigation, saying the transaction between NSSF and the vendors had not complied with procurement requirements.
PPDA argued that a government institution purchasing land above the applicable threshold should have subjected the acquisition to the prescribed procurement process.
The deal also attracted intense political scrutiny because of Mbabazi’s connection to the transaction.
Parliamentary investigations subsequently produced sharply different conclusions. A majority report accused Mbabazi and then Finance Minister Ezra Suruma of influence-peddling and abuse of office, while a minority report absolved them. Parliament ultimately did not convict Mbabazi of wrongdoing.
At the heart of the controversy was not only the price paid but also questions over ownership and the ability of the vendors to transfer the land to NSSF.
In 2018, NSSF Managing Director Richard Byarugaba defended the acquisition before the Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters, saying the Fund had purchased the 463.87 acres on two titles belonging to Nzeyi and AMA Limited and had received what it believed were genuine certificates of title.
Ownership challenge
The transaction later faced another major legal challenge when Temangalo Tea Estate, linked to the family of the late Muhammad Hassanali Moosa, claimed that a much larger portion of the property—about 366 acres—belonged to the estate.
The family sued NSSF and Nzeyi in 2016 seeking recovery of the land.
However, in November 2019, the High Court’s Land Division dismissed the case with costs. Justice John Eudes Keitirima ruled that the claim was time-barred, effectively bringing the particular ownership challenge to an end.
Contemporary reporting described NSSF and Nzeyi as having been cleared, although the ruling was based on the limitation of the claim rather than a substantive finding that settled every historical controversy surrounding the transaction.
That legal history makes the current 55-acre standoff particularly significant.
While the earlier dispute centred on whether NSSF had acquired land that was claimed by another party, the current confrontation is primarily about possession and enforcement of NSSF’s claimed title.
From controversial purchase to an unfinished handover
The latest development also resurrects questions about why a transaction dating back to 2008 has still not resulted in NSSF enjoying undisputed physical control over every part of the property it says it purchased.
The Fund maintains that it has titles covering the disputed land and that some sections have already been developed. Yet, according to officials appearing before COSASE, access to the 55 acres has remained blocked by the continued occupation of the property.
NSSF has therefore turned to the courts for an enforcement mechanism, seeking an order that would compel Nzeyi to vacate.
For COSASE, the inspection provides an opportunity to establish what exactly happened to the disputed portion of the property, what NSSF acquired in 2008, whether the titles correspond to the land physically occupied today, and why the Fund has taken almost 18 years to seek full possession.
The committee’s scrutiny also puts the spotlight back on a transaction that has repeatedly raised uncomfortable questions about public procurement, valuation, land titles, political connections and the management of workers’ savings.
What began in 2008 as an NSSF land investment has therefore refused to disappear.
Nearly two decades later, Parliament is back on the ground at Temangalo—this time looking at 55 acres that NSSF says it owns but still cannot fully possess.
