Legislators have raised numerous questions on circumstances under which Kampala International University (KIU) acquired 14 acres of land at Nsambya.
The campus is owned by controversial businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba.
According to correspondences seen by this website, the said portion is part of Uganda Railways Corporation’s (URC) 32.35 acres of land that were relinquished to private developers following President Yoweri Museveni’s directive on April 30, 2010.
According to Uganda Land Commission (ULC) Secretary Barbra Imaryo, the said investors were awarded this land after their titles on the Nakawa-Naguru, were cancelled.
Many of these titles are understood to have been issued in error.
At the time, Imaryo said this was necessary given that the Government had just penned a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with OPEC Prime Properties to redevelop the housing estate which was in a state of decay.
As a trade off, the cabinet on October 13, 2010 decided to relocate affected investors to URC land in Kibuli and Nakawa.
Deducting from Imaryo’s presentation, the proprietor of Mestil Hotel Janet Kobusingye was allocated 5.8 acres, Charles Kimera 1.13 acres, National Library 2 acres, Islamic University 10 acres, Nakawa Disabled Vocational Training Institute 0.6 acres and Quakers 0.043
On the other hand, it was agreed that the Church of Uganda be allocated 0.39 acres, CTM (U) Ltd 6 acres, Alumus Properties Ltd 2.5 acres, William Nkemba 6 acres, YAS Company 1.5 acres and Access (U) Ltd 12.35 acres respectively.
Exclusion
Whereas this process was expected to run smoothly, Roland Ndyomugyenyi (Rukiga County MP) disclosed that some legitimate beneficiaries were fraudulently excluded.
“As a professional accountant, I would like to infer. You see Kampala International University came in late and it seems people who were supposed to get this land, were ignored. These 14 acres that were given to Kampala International University, there was some collusion and connivance because the directive came in much later,” Ndyomugyenyi stated.
In rebuttal, Imaryo hinged their decision to award KIU land on another Presidential Directive that was issued later that year.
“Kampala International University was allocated part of the land following a Presidential Directive of 29th September 2010, wherein H.E the President directed that Kampala International University is allocated 20 (twenty) acres at Nsambya. The commission allocated the University approximately 14 acres,” she explained.
“Described as; Plot 4 -14 Kinyoro Road; Plot 1 – 3 Press Road; Plot 7 & 9 Kibuli Road and Plot 26A – 28A& 45 Nsambya Road. A total of USHS 675,000,000 was paid as premium and USHS 34,000,000 as ground rent per premium. The money was remitted to the consolidated fund,” Imaryo replied.
Hon Bashir Kazibwe (Kawempe South MP) later established that land investors exceeded the stipulated acreage.
ULC officials appearing before COSASE on Tuesday November 23, 2021 (Photos: Dedan Kimathi/ChimpReports)
“You are talking about 32 acres. Did you take time to make calculations to find the total acreage?” Kazibwe posed.
Realizing that she was cornered, Imaryo begged for more time to keenly scrutinize these documents and was granted until Tuesday next week.
What was the KIU land for?
Deducting from President Museveni’s September 2010 directive which was addressed to the then Lands Minister Omara Atubo, this land was needed to erect staff quarters, executive hostel/apartments for staff, students and office accommodation for graduate programmes.
When KIU realized that it had been cheated, it petitioned the then State Minister for Housing Sam Engola.
Engola outlined this in a November 23, 2012 letter he addressed to Finance Minister Matia Kasaija. The letter was titled “Complaint by Kampala International University”.
“The President again directed that KIU be included and be allocated 20 acres. When it went to registration, it was realized that this could not be accommodated. KIU therefore got less land to the tune of approximately 14 acres,” Atubo intimated.
“However, the Government was scheduled to transfer more land to ULC. This has not been done. I request you to cause the land to be transferred so that Uganda Land Commission (ULC) can allocate the remaining land to Kampala International University,” he summed.Parliament is investigating the theft of railways land by private companies and wealthy businessmen among other irregularities at Uganda Railways Corporation.
