Basajja sticks to Nakasero
Jul 14, 2007
BUSINESSMAN Hassan Bassajjabalaba is determined not to give up Nakasero Market.
BUSINESSMAN Hassan Bassajjabalaba is determined not to give up Nakasero Market.
Through his lawyer, he has threatened to sue any person interfering with the lease given to him to develop the market, located in the heart of Kampala.
“Anyone who tampers with a sublease which Sheila Investments lawfully obtained will be dragged to court,†Julius Turinawe warned yesterday.
President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday gave the vendors the greenlight to redevelop the market, thus overturning a Kampala City Council’s decision to lease the market to Sheila Investments, owned by Basajja.
Museveni said the vendors should be given priority, adding that they could identify a partner with whom to carry out the project as a joint venture.
But Turinawe insisted: “We will seek court redress if he has made an executive order. We shall challenge his order.â€
The Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature are independent arms of government, Turinawe said, adding that no organ should dictate to the others.
He argued that any person claiming Sheila Investments fraudulently acquired the lease should take them to court.
“We are not bothered by what the President has said. What we are bothered about is when we can start work at the market.â€
Sheila Investments was planning to seek an eviction order, so that the traders who claim they can redevelop the market leave, he warned.
According to Turinawe, the traders cannot start redeveloping the market due to an interim order, stopping any works until all the pending cases are disposed of.
In May this year, KCC leased the market to Basajjabalaba, although he owed the city billions in arrears for dues he had collected from the Nakasero vendors under an earlier management contract.
The council agreed that Basajjabalaba would get 70% of the shares of the development project, while the vendors would get 30%.
Basajjabalaba was to pay sh4b for the sub-lease, which was later brought down to sh1.76b. Part of it was swapped with a structure, containing stalls, which Bassajjabalaba had earlier put up at the market, valued at sh1.9b.
KCC agreed that Basajja balaba would pay the sh1.7b in four installments, until March next year. Before full payment, he was not supposed to do anything on the ground. So far, Basajjabalaba has made one installment of sh400m, according to KCC sources.
Turinawe would not say how much had been paid for the market, adding that he was not authorised to disclose it.
The vendors, however, objected to the deal, fearing eviction and claiming that, as sitting tenants, they should be given priority to develop the market.
The row escalated when the traders attacked a team from Sheila Investments last week. The team wanted to occupy an office at the market.
Asked for a reaction to the President’s directive, KCC said they would act after receiving official communication. “The decision (to lease the market to Basajja) was taken by the district council. It can only be overruled by the council,†said Abdu Muyanja, the district chairman for the works committee.
He wondered why the President made a decision based on talking to only one party.
Museveni in 2004 rescued Basajjabalaba when his hides and skins business was closed down over debts. The President ordered the Bank of Uganda to bail him out with sh21b that he owed to Stanbic and Standard Chartered Banks, public money which Basajjabalaba has failed to pay back.
Vendors’ reactions on our National news section