Parliament blocks development on Bat Valley Primary School

Dec 02, 2008

PARLIAMENT on Monday approved a motion staying any developments on Bat Valley Primary School in Kampala until the question of ownership of the property has been resolved.

By Joyce Namutebi

PARLIAMENT on Monday approved a motion staying any developments on Bat Valley Primary School in Kampala until the question of ownership of the property has been resolved.

The motion was moved by Wakiso district Woman MP Rosemary Seninde.

This was after Katikamu North MP James Byandala tabled a document to the effect that an Indian charity, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal, had been offered a new lease for the property.

Recently, two probe committees reported that the Indian charity had no claim on the Universal primary Education school.

The report from the committee on social services, which scrutinised a petition from the school parents and managements committee, said the charity’s 49-year lease expired on November 1, 2006.

The report had also noted that when the lease expired, the school management committee tried to secure the land from the Indian charity, which had repossessed the school in 2001.

The First Lady, Janet Museveni, said the committee, to which she is a member, spent a lot of time evaluating the matter, adding that it also listened to all the stakeholders.

“We recommended that the education ministry gets an alternative piece of land for the Indian charity so that they can put up a private school,” she said.

The Speaker, Edward Sekandi, asked the MPs to first establish the rightful owner of the property.

“You can only find an alternative if a person has a legal right to claim it. If you dispute their right, there is no reason of compensating them,” he advised.

The state minister for primary education, Peter Lokeris, told the House that he was perturbed to learn that all schools in Kampala were under threat of eviction.

Kampala Central MP Erias Lukwago said one of the teachers who had ensured that the school was not repossessed, had received death threats.

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