The Physical Infrastructure Committee of Parliament has summoned Nakawa Town Clerk, KCCA physical planning and building committee to answer queries concerning the illegal construction on top of a channel on plot 3A² and 3A³ sports Lane, Lugogo, Kampala.

The directive came after the officials failed to appear before the committee on Tuesday to answer questions arising from the illegal construction activities.

The committee chairperson, Dan Kimosho (Kazo County, NRM), adjourned the meeting and directed the clerk to issue a summon to the officials. He said the officials must appear before the committee on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 10:00 am.

“The reason we have decided to adjourn the meeting is because we had invited specific groups of people from KCCA, their building review board, and the technical team from the developer, but apart from two people the rest decided not to appear,” Kimosho explained.

Physical infrastructure committee chairperson Dan Kimosho

Kimosho said the officials know that they have been engaged in irregular and illegal construction activities. “If they fail to appear, we shall be forced to send Parliament Police to go bring them," he said.

He said they have been dilly darling and coming late on several occasions and other times, failing to appear, which he noted, is a clear contempt of parliament and its procedures.

The summon follows investigations by the legislators who, during a site visit recently at Forest Mall Lugogo, found out that a city developer known as Stanslas Isiagi, the Managing Director of Old Stanley Hotel, is developing on a water channel.

“The genesis is that the developer built on top of a water channel, so, when it rains the whole place submerges in water. And he did it without permission, certifications or licenses as regards to the law, and the officials are buying him time,” Kimosho said, adding that “Before you know the developer will be erecting buildings on top of the water channel.”

He said the committee finds the activities irregular and noted that it’s a big problem in greater Kampala. He said they shall ensure to bring to book whoever is involved in the irregular constructions.

According to Kimosho, you can’t have such developments going on without having engineers and technical people on site. “We wanted all these people in one meeting so that we can iron out the accusations and counter-accusations. But whether the failure to appear before the committee was an accident or a conspiracy, we don’t know,” he said.

The Deputy ED KCCA Eng. David Luyimbazi who had appeared before the committee

Recently, the Forest Mall area was declared by the Parliament Criminal Investigation Department of Police as a crime scene as they carry out further investigations on the development according to Detective Twine Charles the head of CID Parliament.

A letter seen by the Members of Parliament that was addressed to the developer, Omodi, and written by the town clerk, indicated that Omodi had written to the clerk on July 27, 2023, regarding the same subject, requesting permission to remodel the property that he had just acquired for commercial purposes.

In response, the clerk in the letter dated August 14, 2023, said the developer’s proposal was reviewed and found to meet the minimum requirements for remodeling the property and informed the developer that the clerk’s office has no objection to the proposed remodeling.

Kisaka said that in her institution, there is no one allowed to give authorization to build in the wrong places.

She questioned the authenticity of the letter and said the clerk who wrote the letter must be present for it to be verified, further reasoning that she receives so many letters on a daily basis.

David Luyimbazi, the Deputy executive director at KCCA, said development and building permission is needed before doing any development and added that the chairperson of the building committee has the final say on such matters.

When asked, the developer, Omodi, said he had permission from the town clerk but later during the discussion asked parliament to forgive him and allow him to be the one to demolish the site.

He said he had requested permission from KCCA to remodel the channel as it was open and smelly.

“I wanted to put a shade for children. I want parliament to help me and guide me. Already the columns are up. But the structure has not affected the channel. I did not do it in bad faith, and I have already invested over sh2b, and the channel designs were designed in consultation with KCCA. I request for pardon,” he said.