Police in Busia District have detained a CN Sugar Limited agent over allegations of fraud and misrepresentation in a dispute involving the company’s claim to about 16,830 acres of land in the district.
Joseph Nyongeza, who is linked to one of the disputed properties in Dabani Sub-county, was arrested after residents protested at the office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), describing the land acquisition process as fraudulent.
Police confirmed that Nyongeza is being held at Busia Central Police Station under file GEF 56/2026 as investigations continue.
The arrest followed a formal complaint from local authorities questioning the validity of documents presented by CN Sugar Limited to support its claim to the land.
In a letter dated 4 October and addressed to district and security authorities, the LC1 Chairperson of Busumba A Village in Nangwe Parish, Dabani Sub-county, said Nyongeza does not own land in the area.
“The purported lease to CN Sugar Ltd is not right and has caused panic among residents who fear losing their ancestral land,” the letter said.
The dispute intensified after a field verification exercise conducted in October, during which CN Sugar representatives reportedly failed to present four parcels of land that had been submitted for inspection on 2 and 3 October.
Instead, the representatives reportedly presented four different properties, including an estimated 2,500-acre piece of land in Dabani associated with Nyongeza.
Sources involved in the verification exercise said the substituted properties lacked adequate documentation, including land titles, registered leases, transfers, approved survey plans and cadastral records showing that CN Sugar Limited had exclusive legal interests in the land.
Investigators also raised questions about how the company arrived at the claimed 16,830 acres and whether the interests of third parties, families and customary landowners had been properly addressed.
They said unverified customary arrangements without registered surveys or evidence of exclusive ownership may not be sufficient to establish lawful leasehold rights.
Preliminary verification reportedly found documentary links to CN Sugar Limited or its associated entities for only 170.337 acres, representing less than one per cent of the company’s claimed acreage.
The findings have raised questions over whether inaccurate or false information was presented to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives and the Sugar Council regarding the availability of land for the project.
