Basajja denies having Nakasero land title
Jan 10, 2010
CITY tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba has denied reports that he has the Nakasero Market land title, saying he only acquired a sub-lease.
By Raymond Baguma
CITY tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba has denied reports that he has the Nakasero Market land title, saying he only acquired a sub-lease.
“Sheila Investments (Basajjabalaba’s company) and Kampala City Council signed the sub-lease. This is a public document and anyone can access it. He (Basajjabalaba) is not claiming ownership of the land title,†said an official of one of Basajjabalaba’s companies, who declined to be named.
The official’s comments came after the Police said they had the land title for the market. The title was handed over to the Police by the parliamentary local government accounts committee during investigations into the market dispute that erupted after Basajjabalaba attempted to acquire it for re-development in 2007.
The official said Sheila Investments was justified to claim compensation because development of the market was blocked before the expiry of the sub-lease. The sub-lease was set to expire in 2012.
The official also produced copies of a five-year sub-lease agreement signed in June 2007, by city mayor Nasser Sebaggala, town clerk Ruth Kijjambu and Sheila Investments.
The agreement also said KCC would manage the market after redevelopment.
However, following a petition by the Nakasero Market Traders Association, President Yoweri Museveni stopped Basajjabalaba from redeveloping the market.
Speaking in Bushenyi on December 30, Basajjabalaba reportedly said he was in possession of the titles for Nakasero market and the Constitutional Square and that he wanted sh100b in compensation.
He told a public meeting that Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, the lands minister at the time, assisted him to secure the land titles.
CITY tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba has denied reports that he has the Nakasero Market land title, saying he only acquired a sub-lease.
“Sheila Investments (Basajjabalaba’s company) and Kampala City Council signed the sub-lease. This is a public document and anyone can access it. He (Basajjabalaba) is not claiming ownership of the land title,†said an official of one of Basajjabalaba’s companies, who declined to be named.
The official’s comments came after the Police said they had the land title for the market. The title was handed over to the Police by the parliamentary local government accounts committee during investigations into the market dispute that erupted after Basajjabalaba attempted to acquire it for re-development in 2007.
The official said Sheila Investments was justified to claim compensation because development of the market was blocked before the expiry of the sub-lease. The sub-lease was set to expire in 2012.
The official also produced copies of a five-year sub-lease agreement signed in June 2007, by city mayor Nasser Sebaggala, town clerk Ruth Kijjambu and Sheila Investments.
The agreement also said KCC would manage the market after redevelopment.
However, following a petition by the Nakasero Market Traders Association, President Yoweri Museveni stopped Basajjabalaba from redeveloping the market.
Speaking in Bushenyi on December 30, Basajjabalaba reportedly said he was in possession of the titles for Nakasero market and the Constitutional Square and that he wanted sh100b in compensation.
He told a public meeting that Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, the lands minister at the time, assisted him to secure the land titles.