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KAMPALA - Former Attorney General (AG) Fred Ruhindi has said the relocation of Luzira Prison from Kampala to Buikwe district to pave way for the construction of a five-star hotel and conference centre needs to be approached with caution.

“The shifting of a prison is not a simple thing. What happens midway when the whole thing collapses? Where will the prisoners be because this (Buikwe land) is not vacant land? So, relocating a prison is a serious matter,” he told New Vision Online on Saturday when contacted for comment as a former Nakawa Division MP.

“Let the investors first build the prison (in Buikwe) and then we see the seriousness that they are and then the relocation can take place and they have the (Luzira) land,” he stated.

Ruhindi urged the Government not to throw caution to the wind and just trade off Luzira Prison land for a hotel project without doing adequate due diligence to establish whether the investors are serious and capable of undertaking the task at hand.

Ruhindi urged the Government not to throw caution to the wind and just trade off Luzira Prison land for a hotel project without doing adequate due diligence to establish whether the investors are serious and capable of undertaking the task at hand. (New Vision/Files)

“The challenge I have as a leader who has been in Nakawa for some time are projects which don’t take off like the one to redevelop the Nakawa-Naguru estate into a modern satellite city. I hope that this time round there has been some serious due diligence on these investors (Tian Tang Group Limited) and there are some commitments,” he said.

The former principal legal advisor to the government argued that if the Government gets an investor who is serious and enters into an agreement or contract with him or her, some serious benchmarks must be fulfilled.

“Government can say, ‘Do this in this and this in this time and if you don’t do it, this will happen; you will forfeit the land’.  This keeps the investor on his or her tenterhooks and the project gets done, but I wouldn’t like to see a situation where, for instance, land is ceded to an investor who turns around and sells our land to some other people and the five-star hotel becomes something else,” he said.

Ruhindi stressed that it is a question of ensuring that due diligence has been done. “That the person or company that has been sourced is serious and that on our part we ensure that that (project) is delivered and we can do that through serious contractual obligations which when not fulfilled our land can come back.”

Ruhindi also said the other alternative would be to ensure that the Government puts in place necessary facilities in Buikwe which include courts such as High Court and Magistrate’s Court where the prisoners can be arraigned and proceedings take place there.

Land already acquired

It emerged last month that the Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) had already identified land in Buikwe for the proposed relocation of the prison at the cost to be covered by Tian Tang Group Limited, which seeks to construct a hotel.

Internal affairs minister Maj. Gen. (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire said UPS identified 3.5 square miles, out of which it has agreed to purchase one square mile for the relocation of the country’s largest and oldest prison located on the shores of Lake Victoria, 12km southeast of Kampala. 

Otafiire had scheduled a consultative meeting over the plan with the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, and the Administrator General, Charles Kasibayo, for March 6, 2024 in his office in Kampala.

This follows a directive issued by President Yoweri Museveni in July 2022. However, it is not yet clear whether the planned meeting of March 6 took place.

Ruhindi also said the Government should be mindful that there is a certain infrastructure that is required in prison service.

“For instance, the time taken to get the prisoners from Luzira Prison to courts of law is 9 o’clock. So, the transit of these prisoners must be timely. When they are relocated to Buikwe that will mean maybe the transportation of these prisoners will always be very early in the morning, maybe 4:00am or 5:00am. So, there is some bit of inconvenience,” he said.

Internal affairs minister Maj. Gen. (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire said UPS identified 3.5 square miles, out of which it has agreed to purchase one square mile for the relocation of the country’s largest and oldest prison located on the shores of Lake Victoria, 12km southeast of Kampala. 

He also said the other alternative would be to ensure that the Government puts in place necessary facilities in Buikwe which include courts such as High Court and Magistrate’s Court where the prisoners can be arraigned and proceedings take place there.

“That would be very good and also to have other necessary facilities like the Police also available. It would work but as far as the investment is concerned, we need to put in place some serious benchmarks that must be fulfilled. Of course, Luzira Prison land is prime land; marine land. It overlooks the lake; has a very nice view which is ideal for that kind of facility (five-star hotel) the investor is sourced for,” Ruhindi noted.

UIA official weighs in

Angelo Izama, a board member of Uganda Investment Authority, also weighed in on the proposed relocation of Luzira Prison. He told New Vision that on its face, the tradeoff (Luzira Prison land for facilities) is not bad and UPS needs to expand and modernize penitentiaries.

He noted that Luzira Prison is a historic monument to Uganda’s penal history and to the history of the administration of justice in the country.

“That said the over congestion in Luzira Prison is testimony to the actual needs of the service and the criminal justice system itself. Lengthy remand periods because of the committal process offend the presumption of innocence.  

“Given the complication of problems caused by congestion in Luzira Prison, I am happy to put Luzira’s history and culture aside and redevelop/expand the prisons and if this deal works out, I have no doubt the Service (UPS) will deliver on it,” Izama added.

The facilities that constitute Luzira Prison Complex occupy over 400 acres and they include a staff college and a training school. Other facilities are; Kampala Remand Home, Murchison Bay Prison, Maximum Security Prison or Luzira Upper Prison, and Luzira Women’s Prison.

Otafiire told New Vision last Saturday that for a long time, the Government wanted to remove Luzira Prison from the centre of the city.

Ruhindi also said the Government should be mindful that there is a certain infrastructure that is required in prison service.

“When it was built (in 1920s), it was in an isolated area fit for prison but it is now engulfed by the city and in a precarious situation. It is dangerous to have a maximum prison in the centre of the city. So, we would want to relocate it so that the area can be developed,” he said.

In his letter dated February 22, 2024, Otafiire told Kiwanuka that Tian Tang Group Limited 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, with respect to the investors’ proposal, saying they had equally contacted his office to effect the directive.

Museveni’s letter, a copy of which New Vision 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 totally support this idea,” the President wrote.

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

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

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

Parliament has already demanded that the Government present a detailed plan for relocating the prison to hold the investors to count later so that the public gets value for money on the project.