Buganda Road Flats tenants petition MPs
Feb 21, 2008
BUGANDA Road Flats tenants have petitioned MPs over the National Housing and Construction Corporation’s (NHCC) refusal to sell them the flats.
By John Odyek and Joyce Namutebi
BUGANDA Road Flats tenants have petitioned MPs over the National Housing and Construction Corporation’s (NHCC) refusal to sell them the flats.
Nabilah Naggayi Sempala (Kampala Woman MP), who presented the petition, said the tenants were beneficiaries of the Government’s decision to divest itself of pool houses, where priority was given to sitting tenants.
Sempala said the tenants are also protected by the Condominium Act, which allows them to purchase and own the houses.
“We pray the decision to cancel the sale be altered so that the tenants are offered priority to buy the flats,†read the petition.
The petitioners stated that in May 2006 during a meeting at the Grand Imperial Hotel, the NHCC chief executive officer informed them of a decision to stop the sale of the flats to them.
“They were informed of a decision to remove them and relocate them to new places which were yet to be developed,†Naggayi said.
The tenants wrote to the finance ministry, which was handling the divestiture of the pool houses through the Privatisation Unit, but they got no reply.
The tenants said when the Libyan government took over 49% shareholding in NHCC, the Libyans decided to redevelop the flats and offer them for sale to the tenants. But the tenants saw this as a disguise by the corporation not to sell them the flats.
The petitioners attached a letter from Kampala City Council saying the flats had never been condemned as uninhabitable.
The tenants argued that they have been discriminated against since similar flats in Kololo, Bugolobi, Wandegeya have been sold to the sitting tenants. They also wondered why they were being denied their right to buy them.
The tenants have petitioned the Inspector General of Government, President Yoweri Museveni and the finance ministry but have received no positive response.
Nathan Byanyima, the chairman of the infrastructure committee, said the problem of the tenants had been a long standing matter, which needs to be resolved.
BUGANDA Road Flats tenants have petitioned MPs over the National Housing and Construction Corporation’s (NHCC) refusal to sell them the flats.
Nabilah Naggayi Sempala (Kampala Woman MP), who presented the petition, said the tenants were beneficiaries of the Government’s decision to divest itself of pool houses, where priority was given to sitting tenants.
Sempala said the tenants are also protected by the Condominium Act, which allows them to purchase and own the houses.
“We pray the decision to cancel the sale be altered so that the tenants are offered priority to buy the flats,†read the petition.
The petitioners stated that in May 2006 during a meeting at the Grand Imperial Hotel, the NHCC chief executive officer informed them of a decision to stop the sale of the flats to them.
“They were informed of a decision to remove them and relocate them to new places which were yet to be developed,†Naggayi said.
The tenants wrote to the finance ministry, which was handling the divestiture of the pool houses through the Privatisation Unit, but they got no reply.
The tenants said when the Libyan government took over 49% shareholding in NHCC, the Libyans decided to redevelop the flats and offer them for sale to the tenants. But the tenants saw this as a disguise by the corporation not to sell them the flats.
The petitioners attached a letter from Kampala City Council saying the flats had never been condemned as uninhabitable.
The tenants argued that they have been discriminated against since similar flats in Kololo, Bugolobi, Wandegeya have been sold to the sitting tenants. They also wondered why they were being denied their right to buy them.
The tenants have petitioned the Inspector General of Government, President Yoweri Museveni and the finance ministry but have received no positive response.
Nathan Byanyima, the chairman of the infrastructure committee, said the problem of the tenants had been a long standing matter, which needs to be resolved.