Nyakaana, Kyanda accused of building on road reserve

Jul 19, 2007

A Local council boss in Kampala, Fred Sentamu Nyanzi, has converted land meant for a community centre at Kamwokya on Old Kira Road into a commercial building.

By Alfred Wasike

A Local council boss in Kampala, Fred Sentamu Nyanzi, has converted land meant for a community centre at Kamwokya on Old Kira Road into a commercial building.

The land is located in Contafrica village where Nyanzi and his brothers, including musician Bobi Wine, have set up huge containers which house several businesses.

Across the road, Nyanzi also set up two large containers in which he vends shoes and food on a road reserve, blocking a children’s kindagarten called Ronnie & Viola.

These discoveries were made yesterday by the commission of inquiry investigating corruption in Kampala city.

The commission also visited the area and others across the city to verify allegations of corruption.

Nyanzi appeared before the commission recently and said the road reserve belonged to his mother but added that his family was using the communal land temporarily.

Commission chairperson Irene Ovonji Odida noted: “It is absolute impunity and unacceptable to encroach on land meant for a community facility and also encroach on a road reserve besides blocking off a public facility like that school.”

Another commissioner, Amon Muzoora, explained the use of a road reserve. “A road reserve is for services such as telephone lines, electricity cables and water pipes.”

The probe also discovered that the chief of military intelligence, Col. Leo Kyanda and the Kampala Central Division chairman, Godfrey Nyakaana, encroached on a road reserve at Kira Road roundabout.

Kyanda extended his compound into the reserve that also accommodates huge electricity, water cables and sewage pipes, while Nyakaana built a concrete wall around the rest of the reserve that has a plant nursery bed.

Nursery manager Henry Lackey Andama told the probe that two years ago, Nyakaana said he wanted to lay fresh water pipes through the land and asked him to remove his plants. Nyakaana reportedly said he had bought the land and sold part of it to Kyanda.

When he refused to surrender the land, Andama said, Nyakaana went ahead to build a wall there, adding that Kyanda also extended his compound into the reserve later.

The commission also visited Kamwokya Market, where the traders had complained of poor facilities after the city council took over its management. The market, which was set up in the 1960s, has 332 stalls and 39 lock-up shops for 400 traders.

The commission also went to Mawanda Road to verify a complaint by an 80-year-old woman, Sarah Namyenya, who said last week that her 40 acres of land were grabbed by KCC officials in connivance with her lawyer, Kenneth Kajeke.

Her son, Andrew Kyazze, said Kajeke and other men threatened them yesterday, for reporting to the probe.

The probe also visited Faso Hotel in Makerere Kagugube and the Centenary Park, where it confirmed that the proprietor, Sarah Kizito, Nyakaana’s wife, violated the agreement not to put up permanent structures there.

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