Govt seals Bunyoro University land deal

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The Government says it is fast-tracking the implementation of a public university in the Bunyoro region and has completed the acquisition of a 100-acre piece of land for the institution.

Education ministry permanent secretary Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda on June 24, 2025, signed a grant agreement with Dr Henry Wamani, a former lecturer at Makerere University School of Public Health, who donated the land located in Buhimba town council, Kikuube district.

“Wamani handed over the titles of the land after the agreement signing, and the land is now being transferred to the Ministry of Education and Sports. We are now going to do physical planning for the area and will have designs of the university by mid-July,” an official with the education ministry said.

Buhimba town council is located approximately 10km away from Hoima City on Hoima-Fort Portal Road.

The chairperson of the taskforce management committee (TMC) of the university, Prof. Samuel Kyamanywa, celebrated the land acquisition as a key milestone in the kick-start the university.

“We hope that the construction work will begin by September and once construction begins, we will need one year to open the university,” he said.

This comes after President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Mrs Janet Museveni, presided over the breaking of the ground ceremony for the university in March.

The development followed several engagements between the Government and Bunyoro leaders, including the August 17, 2021, meeting where Members of Parliament and academics made a presentation before the President at the State House, highlighting the need to fast-track operationalisation of the science-based university.

During the engagement, the leaders notified the President that several sites had been identified to host the institution.

Apart from Wamani’s land, other sites identified, included land owned by government institutions, such as Uganda Co-operative College in Kigumba (Kiryandongo), Kamurasi Primary Teachers College (Masindi), Bulera Core Primary Teachers College (Hoima), Former National Teachers College (Masindi), Kibaale town council, Birembo War Memorial Technical Institute (Kakumiro), Gulu University Hoima Campus, Kihonda Demonstration Farm (Masindi). Another offer came from Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom.

Subsequently, in June 2022, Mrs Museveni, constituted a six-member taskforce management committee (TMC) to oversee the establishment of a public university in Bunyoro. One of its tasks was to identify and register the most suitable piece of land for the university.

A few days later, on 9 June 2022, the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, chaired a meeting (attended by Members of Parliament and academics from Bunyoro) that set up a three-member subcommittee to carry out a rapid evaluation and verification of the proposed sites. 

The subcommittee comprised Fred Kabagambe Kaliisa, the chairperson of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Royal Commission (representing Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom); Jacob Karubanga, the Member of Parliament for Kibanda South; chairperson of Bunyoro parliamentary caucus (representing political leaders) and Patrick Byakagaba, a natural resource and environmental governance specialist at Makerere University (representing academia).

The subcommittee identified Buhimba and Bulera as suitable locations, but only 20 acres of land were available at Bulera.

However, technical studies carried out by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the lands ministry identified the land donated by Wamani as the most suitable for the university.

The sub-committee had recommended Bulera and Buhimba sites. However detailed technical studies found Buhimba to be the most suitable.

“Based on the overall assessment of all the proposed sites visited, the team found the land offered by Dr Henry Wamani in Buhimba was the most suitable for the establishment of the main campus for the proposed public university in Bunyoro region,” the March 5, 2025, NCHE report reads in part.

Dr Wamani offered 100 acres of land for the university in 2017, however, as the government did not take up the offer at the time, he planted trees on 80 acres. When the government later expressed interest in his land, he offered two options: acquire the unplanted 20 acres immediately and take 80 acres after tree harvesting or acquisition of all 100 acres after compensation for the planted trees.

The Chief Government Valuer assessed the value of the trees, but the education ministry decided to acquire the 80 acres after tree harvesting. 

However, presiding over the breaking of the ground ceremony for the university on March 19, 2025, in Buhimba, President Museveni directed that Wamani be paid for his trees, so the government can acquire the entire 100 acres.

Prof. Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo, the first vice TMC chairperson and deputy vice-chancellor in charge of academic affairs, says the institution will create enormous opportunities for the region and Uganda at large.

“It is going to be a public institution, but people in the region need to get prepared to harness the opportunities the university is going to create in various areas of life,” Kyomuhendo said.

According to Byakagaba, another committee member, the location of the university aligns with the goal of setting up a science-based public university in the region.

“You need enough land to start a globally competitive university of earth and applied sciences,” he said, “There are not many settlements in its neighbourhood and that presents expansion opportunities. You can have a land use plan to develop a university town.”

Buhimba town council authorities confirmed efforts to provide the necessary social services, such as road accessibility to the land to aid the university establishment activities, such as construction.

“On Thursday (June 19, 2025) we had stakeholders’ proceedings with some people affected by the main road to the university, we are calling the main entrance to the university to provide additional land for the expansion of the road before it is tarmacked. Although the residents asked for compensation, we hope an agreement will be reached,” Buhimba town council LC3 vice-chairperson Robert Muhumuza Mpanimanya said.

Mpanimanya, who doubles as the secretary for education and sports representing Buhimba East Cell where the university is located, said the over two-kilometre road away from the Hoima-Fort Portal Road is being considered along eight more access roads to the first-ever public university in the sub-region.

The locals have already started celebrating the opportunities occasioned by the government selecting the area to host the academic institution.

“A plot of land near the proposed site of the university is now at more than sh20m up from less than sh5m before. People are rushing for land with others scheming to set up hostels to accommodate students on top of other business opportunities,” Onesimus Kirungi, one of the residents, said.