Landlords cautioned ahead of compensation

By Samuel Balagadde

The landlords affected by the Entebbe Express Highway project have been advised to be on alert to prevent their compensation package from landing into the hands of fraudsters who have been sighted in the area.

Pamela Ayebare, a land acquisition specialist with Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), said whenever there is compensation, they receive cases of fraud by imposters who fake land ownership documents.

Ayabare was on Tuesday talking to residents of Kabojja A and Kabojja B at Good Hope Primary School in Kinaawa.

They had turned up for the validation exercise. Ayebare said residents who had surrendered their land titles to banks as security should use the legal system to settle the matter.

“All those occupying customary land and those without supportive documents for their land and property, but are known by the area residents and local councils will be considered,” said Ayebare.

A total 362 residents are to be compensated in an area of 6km from Busega round-about where the project starts.

Lamarck Sseryazi of Katuramu and Company in partnership with Mott MacDonald Consultants said those whose compensation package does not exceed sh200, 000 will receive their money in cash, but others will be through Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT).

He said every affected person is free to take all his belongings, including iron sheets from the houses and harvesting their crops.

This, however, must be done after being compensated.

“A disturbance fee of 30% of the total compensation package will be given to every affected person for relocation,” said Sseryazi.

However, he warned residents against the habit of leaving graves after being compensated, which in the future may cause problems as many cultures value the dead.

Dan Alinange, the Uganda National Road Authority spokesperson, said the compensation package will greatly depend on the current market value of land, the size of land and the quality of developments on it.