How govt school building was leased out, converted into church

By Ibrahim Ruhweza

KAMPALA - Local leaders in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, are up in arms following the leasing of a government school building to a church belonging to refugees from the Horn of Africa. 

The five-room building belongs to Kansanga Primary School and occupies about half an acre and previously housed teachers. 

The house, which used to spare teachers the high rent charges in the area, is now a place of worship for refugees, mainly Eritreans. 

Francis Sseguya, the LC2 chairperson of Kansanga parish, said rent in the area is high due to the influx of people from neighbouring countries. 

“Because of the influx of urban refugees, accommodation in the Makindye East division is too expensive for the natives to afford. In Kansanga, a single room, which used to cost about sh100,000-sh120,000 is now sh250,000. A double room that used to be sh180,000- sh200,000, is now sh350,000. This is too high for the primary school teacher,” he said.

Genesis  

At the beginning of last year’s third term, Resty Namyalo, a headteacher of Kansanga Primary School, who used to live in the house, retired. She was replaced by Jalia Nakayiza who was transferred from Kololo Primary School. 

Unlike Namyalo, Nakayiza declined to occupy the house, claiming it was in a bad state. Nakayiza proposed that the house be leased out to private people for the time she will be there. 

She proposed that the money got from the tenants be used for her transport and school activities. The school management team and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) agreed, but local leaders did not agree. 

“The idea came in November 2024 when Ethiopians came looking for a place to build a church. Although there are many Ethiopians in this community, most of them are Orthodox and don’t worship in local churches,” John Bosco Ssenfuka, the chairperson of Sebuliba zone, says. 

Most of the Orthodox believers from the Horn of Africa only speak Tigrinya, a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. 

Currently, the nearest church where Eritreans and Ethiopians worship is located in Mpunye zone and accommodates over 500 people. It was opened by President Yoweri Museveni in 2021. 

Ssenfuka says the school has leased the house and land for four years, and if the headteacher is not transferred to another school, the lease is likely to be renewed. 

“Local politicians are not happy with it. The money will be deposited on the school account. The school needs projects from which it can earn money from. Government funds are not enough,” he says. 

Ssenfuka says the house has accommodated six headteachers since it was constructed. 

“The only difference with this new headteacher is that she wants the house to make money for the school.” 

The contested house was built in 1989 and first occupied by the first headteacher, Mukasa Lusamba, now a commissioner in the education ministry. 

“The house has never been renovated. This explains why it was rejected by the new headteacher,” Ssenfuka says. 

He says before the current tenants renovated it, it was dilapidated, with the roof almost collapsing. 

“The house has been restored to its original state. Three more rooms and a new toilet have been built,” Ssenfuka says. 

On the other hand, Sseguya, says he heard rumours that the management committee of the school, accused Ssenfuka of having been the broker in the lease deal. 

“Bosco (Ssenfuka) is the broker; he brought the Ethiopians. We had a local council meeting, and the renovations were halted. However, after three days, construction resumed,” Seguya says adding that most of the leaders are yet to see the lease that the land and the house may end up being sold in future.

Risk of collapsing 

In April 2023, a building leased to South Sudanese collapsed, killing one of the proprietors Mario Awier. It was discovered by Sseguya that the commercial building was old and weak. 

“The building was old, and building another level on top of it increased more weight; that could have been one of the reasons it collapsed,” he said. 

Sseguya accused city authorities of not doing due diligence on the state of buildings in the area. He said the physical planning team had not done much to find out why Kansanga has had many buildings collapsing and claiming people’s lives. 

Sseguya said there are many buildings in the area under construction and that he was not sure whether they are fully inspected and monitored by the NBRB. 

“We tried to stop them when they were renovating, but they ignored us, claiming that they had legal documents to proceed with the construction,” the LC2 chairperson of Kansanga parish said. 

Sseguya said there are several buildings in Kansanga that have collapsed killing many people in recent years. He cited UK Mall which claimed eight, Elise Supermarket which claimed four and Rubis Building which claimed two. 

Zziwa said that a team of engineers and architects visited the site and from their preliminary investigations found out that the developer had modified the structure and tried to make it storeyed.

Headteacher's comments 

When contacted, Nakayiza, said: “The house is done. Where is the issue? Who is sponsoring you to do all this? Don’t run this story, because the story is not right.” 

Hannah Kakembo, the chairperson of the school management committee, said: “Why do you need to know? Are you a parent? Let me tell you, please, I don’t talk to journalists about matters to do with that school. It is a government school, and we have been assigned the responsibility of managing the school for the Government. Therefore, I don’t give information about it.” 

Former teacher comments 

John Tiboruhanga, a former teacher at the school, says many teachers at the school are only working for rent. “The teachers sleep in iron sheet shacks known as mama ingia pole, while others are spending more than half of their pay on rent,” he says. 
Daniel NuweAbine, the Kampala Capital City Authority, spokesperson said the matter had been brought to their attention and they will investigate it. 

“We want to find out from the school management what actually is going on. We shall get all facts clear and give an informed comment,” he said. Currently, the building is properly fenced off with a perimter wall around it and is ready for use.

What building board says 

Herbert Zziwa, the spokesperson of the National Building Review Board (NBRB), said if anyone wants to remodel a house, they need to seek permission from the area building committee. 

Though before seeking permission from a building committee, they must first do a structural integrity assessment to ascertain the health of the building. 

“Because someone might want to change a building that is already weak. So, for anybody to change the use or repurpose any structure, they should first do an assessment of that building in order to establish its health. That assessment is supposed to be done by a qualified engineer. 

After doing that, they must go back to the building committee of their area and get the necessary authorisation to change the purpose for which it was originally constructed. Now before changing purpose for which a structure was built, the building committee will look at so many things,” he said. 

He says one of them is the health of the building and the location. 

“Someone might want to change a school into maybe a guesthouse in an area that was not planned for that. So, the building committee has to look at all that before they grant them permission,” he said. 

According to the Building Control Act of 2013 and the Building Control Resolutions of 2020, the people behind the change of the building must be authorised and have an occupation permit to use the building. It is not clear whether the users of the building have so far secured all these.