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The Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) has identified land in the Buikwe district for the proposed relocation of Luzira Prison, following a directive issued by President Yoweri Museveni in July 2022.

UPS identified 3.5 square miles out of which it has agreed to purchase one square mile for the relocation of the country’s biggest and oldest prison from Port Bell in Luzira, Kampala.

This is according to Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire’s letter, dated February 22, 2024, to the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, a copy of which New Vision Online has seen.

When contacted on Saturday (February 24), Otafiire confirmed writing the letter that invites Kiwanuka and the Administrator General to a consultative meeting on the proposed relocation on March 6, 2024, in his office.

“Yes, for a long time, we wanted to remove the prison from the centre of the city. It is dangerous to have a maximum prison in the centre of the city,” he said on the phone.

In the letter, Otafiire told Kiwanuka that the Tian Tang Group approached the President with a proposal to redevelop Luzira Prison into an ultra-modern city suburb.

He made further reference to the President’s letter dated July 10, 2022, concerning the investors’ proposal, saying they have equally contacted his office to effect the directive.

Museveni’s letter, a copy of which New Vision Online has also obtained, was addressed to Otafiire. 

“I have received a letter from Tian Tiang Group, which is proposing to develop the Luzira Prison into a five-star hotel, with a conference centre and relocate the prison at their cost to another place in the interior on land identified by Government. I support this idea,” the President wrote.

He, therefore, directed the minister, a retired Major General, to start negotiations with the Tian Tiang Group about this programme and identify land anywhere in Uganda to relocate the prison.

Family owning Luzira land

Otafiire revealed in his letter that the family of the late Antonio Lutwama Kabogoza, who owned the land, have unfortunately never applied for letters of administration since the late passed on in 1928.

He, however, said they have agreed as a family and beneficiaries to sell the said square mile to the UPS.

In light of the current legal impasse on processing letters of administration for the old Buganda estates, the minister said the family lawyers formed an opinion that they (beneficiaries) could still sell their interest in the said land to the UPS for the prison’s relocation.

“The purpose of this letter is to invite you and the Administrator General (herein copied) to my office on the 6th March 2024 at 2:00 pm at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Boardroom for a joint meeting to review the said position of the family and whether your offices have any objection or proposals to actualize the said Presidential directive,” Otafiire told Kiwanuka and the Administrator General.