UBC staff houses razed
May 15, 2006
AYA Investments Ltd has razed down the former staff quarters of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) at Nakasero, despite 63 residents appealing to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) over the matter.
By Geresom Musamali
AYA Investments Ltd has razed down the former staff quarters of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) at Nakasero, despite 63 residents appealing to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) over the matter.
The quarters are part of the former Ministry of Information and Broadcasting complex, whose land President Yoweri Museveni recently donated to AYA, owned by two Sudanese brothers, to build a $90m hotel. The hotel is supposed to be ready for the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting in November next year.
AYA moved last week to fence off the land, on which is also located two Mulago Hospital nurses’ quarters, the School of Hygiene Annex, as well as former chief justice George Masika’s plot.
“It was raining on Saturday when we suddenly saw a bull-dozer enter the gate and begin deroofing our structures,†said a woman. By yesterday morning, all the structures had been razed.
In their petition to the IGG last week, the residents said they had not been formally given notice to vacate the premises. They said some of them had retired and were still awaiting payment of their terminal benefits.
Christine Mugerwa, the IGG public relations officer, said the IGG had written to the Uganda Lands Commission to seek guidance over the matter.
But the outgoing Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Tim Lwanga, said he supported the development. Asked yesterday whether he was comfortable with the way the entire process of handing over the facilities to AYA was being conducted, Lwanga said he had no problem with it.
“We took a decision as Cabinet to offer the land to an investor. It was a collective decision. I cannot therefore turn around and claim not to be part of it,†said Lwanga.
“Government has put in place adequate arrangements to relocate everybody,†he added.
UBC has been moved to Lugard Road in Kampala.
AYA Investments Ltd has razed down the former staff quarters of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) at Nakasero, despite 63 residents appealing to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) over the matter.
The quarters are part of the former Ministry of Information and Broadcasting complex, whose land President Yoweri Museveni recently donated to AYA, owned by two Sudanese brothers, to build a $90m hotel. The hotel is supposed to be ready for the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting in November next year.
AYA moved last week to fence off the land, on which is also located two Mulago Hospital nurses’ quarters, the School of Hygiene Annex, as well as former chief justice George Masika’s plot.
“It was raining on Saturday when we suddenly saw a bull-dozer enter the gate and begin deroofing our structures,†said a woman. By yesterday morning, all the structures had been razed.
In their petition to the IGG last week, the residents said they had not been formally given notice to vacate the premises. They said some of them had retired and were still awaiting payment of their terminal benefits.
Christine Mugerwa, the IGG public relations officer, said the IGG had written to the Uganda Lands Commission to seek guidance over the matter.
But the outgoing Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Tim Lwanga, said he supported the development. Asked yesterday whether he was comfortable with the way the entire process of handing over the facilities to AYA was being conducted, Lwanga said he had no problem with it.
“We took a decision as Cabinet to offer the land to an investor. It was a collective decision. I cannot therefore turn around and claim not to be part of it,†said Lwanga.
“Government has put in place adequate arrangements to relocate everybody,†he added.
UBC has been moved to Lugard Road in Kampala.