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KAMPALA - The Government is seeking sh40 billion to compensate former tenants of the Nakawa-Naguru estate in Kampala.

The former occupants numbering 1,974 were evicted in 2007. This was to pave way for the construction of a satellite city by OPEC Prime Properties.

However, in 2018, the Cabinet resolved to terminate the agreement with Opec Prime on account that the developer had reneged on its obligations.

The land was then repossessed by the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) which went ahead to freshly allocate it to new developers but this process had its own challenges.

Riding on a decision cabinet took four years ago, reliable sources within Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) told New Vision, that Government had agreed to compensate each affected tenant sh17.8million.

However, to this day, Monica Ejua Edemachu, Ministry of Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs’ undersecretary says they are yet to receive these funds. She warned that delay to compensate the afflicted conflicts might result into costly legal disputes.

She echoed this while appearing before the House Committee on Presidential Affairs chaired by Jessica Ababiku (Adjumani Woman, NRM). The engagement bordered on KCCA Ministerial Policy statement for the 2024/25 financial year.

“Every year, we have been making this presentation as an unfunded priority. As I talk now, there is a lot of pressure on Government from the former sitting tenants who are either going to take Government to court and Government pays more than that amount that was decided on, or otherwise,” Edemachu warned.

Consequently, she said that as a responsible ministry, they have decided to re-table the funding requirement such that in the event the aggrieved party drags, Government to court, no one is blamed.

“If it is not adopted, then tomorrow when it comes to battling the court case, all of us take the responsibility,” Edemachu pointed out.

She further explained that “Initially our submission to cabinet was for sh70m each to the former sitting tenants but cabinet resolved that, these are people who were sitting on Government land and Government approved a goodwill of sh17.8million per former sitting tenant.”

Lubaga North MP Abubakar Kawalya (NUP) who is also a former KCCA speaker cautioned that expending this money without an elaborate agreement between former tenants and authorities is risky.

“We need something that shows that indeed this money is needed and there must be a memorandum of understanding between the Government of Uganda and the former tenants of this land. Because we can decide to pass this money and then at the end of the day, you will hear these people going to court,” Kawalya contended.

The presidential committee chairperson Jesica Ababiku chaired the meeting on Wednesday. (All Photos by Edith Namayanja)

“There is no way we can tell someone who was in a place for more than 30 years, that you are going to compensate that person with only sh17m. We have been seeing people being compensated big sums of money, what guided these requests?” he wondered.
  
MPs respond

Calling for a retreat, a litany of lawmakers including the former physical infrastructure committee vice chairperson Eng. Robert Kasolo (Iki-iki County, NRM) argued that this subject is dicey and needs to be studied thoroughly.   

“I witnessed a scenario where I was chairing and we decided that let’s go to the ground and see this place, I witnessed a scenario where an officer from local government (LG) wanted to box the one from Attorney General (AG). It was nasty, it was our security which separated them, they were fighting,”

The committee chairperson Jessica Ababiku, agreed with this suggestion.

“Let’s have that retreat but now secretariat, let’s put it there. We go for the retreat, if it shall not get justified, we remove and put our own position, observations, and recommendations,” she ruled.   

Ministers’ cars  

Amidst this, it is also understood that KCCA is seeking a budget provision of sh4.5bn in the next fiscal. Documents seen by this publication indicate that these funds shall go towards the purchase of two station wagons for ministers, and four pickup trucks for operations and monitoring.

Also, the money is expected to cater for office space, furniture, and purchasing information communication technology (ICT) equipment among others.

However, before this request is rubber stamped, Kawalya says the committee must interest itself in the unit costs of the aforementioned items.

“There is a tendency of Ministry of Kampala to present omnibus requests. We want them to be very specific, when you look at this item, retooling for two station wagons for ministers, we need to know how much each vehicle is going to cost. The four pickups also need to know how much they are going to spend on each pickup,” the Lubaga North MP argued.

KCCA’s 2023/24 Budget

For financial year 2023/24, a total budget of sh7.801bn was appropriated and approved. This includes wages of sh0.49bn and non-wages sh7.3115b.

Actual releases by the end of the second quarter amounted to fifty percent (sh3.901bn). Of which, sh3.088b was spent.