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KAMAPALA
THE government is selling off to investors land where Nsambya Police
Barracks and the nearby Kibuli Training School stand.
Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura said on Thursday that he had
set up a 10-member committee to negotiate with investors.
This is the latest in several moves that have seen land on which
government institutions stand being sold or leased off to investors,
drawing criticism from some sections of the public and the political
opposition.
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IN CHARGE: Maj. Gen.
Kayihura |
Special Branch chief Juventine Odoket heads the committee and members
are Ms Elizabeth Muwanga, the head of Non-Human Resources, Estates Officer
Richard Edyegu and personnel from the legal and research departments of
the Uganda Police Force.
Because of their prime location within the city, Maj. Gen. Kayihura
said local and international investors have shown interest in the plots
that occupy a combined 70 acres and the force hopes to sell them as one in
a single deal.
One of the local investors is reportedly Hassan
Basajjabalaba, a tycoon with interests in hides and skins, education, and
real estate.
We have exchanged correspondence with Bassajjabalaba, American
companies, South African companies, National Housing and Construction
Corporation and National Social Security Fund, Kayihura said.
Private valuers Sunday Monitor talked to on Friday said the cost of the
70 acres could fetch the government at least Shs35 billion if each acre is
sold at the current market value of Shs500 million.
Should the deal be sealed, Nsambya and Kibuli, which also hosts the
police headquarters, will join a growing list of government institutions
in Kampala City being leased or sold off to private investors, many of
whom plan to build hotels and shopping complexes.
Government recently allocated 15 acres on which Shimoni Teachers
College and Shimoni Demonstration School stand in the heart of the city to
Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talala Alsaud to build a 5-star hotel.
Land in Nakasero that hosted the UBC-TV and two ministries within the
Presidents Office, which have since been demolished, has gone to a
Sudanese investor to build a hotel.
Mbuya Barracks and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence will also
be moved for investors. The rush to give prime land to investors has
attracted criticism from the opposition and civil society organisations.
Today the President is busy allocating prime land and plots and
relocating government institutions at will and at heavy cost to
taxpayers, UPC President Miria Obote said last week.
She criticised the President for giving the relocation directives
without consulting any other interested parties.
It is sad that the
President who is supposed to protect our historical and national heritage
is the same person destroying ...does the President have personal
interests? she said.
When the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation - UBC TV offices were razed,
it is said some archived material was lost in the debris and the rain that
fell around the time of demolition.
Kayihura said the project to sell off Nsambya and Kibuli will see some
7,000 police personnel displaced.
The plan, however, is to get an
investor who can build new accommodation for the men and women of the
Uganda Police Force elsewhere in return for the land.
In this way, the police would go some way in providing decent
accommodation for its 19,000-strong personnel some of whom at Nsambya
Barracks have converted mortuaries into places of abode.
The idea was mooted by Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala when he was the
Inspector General of Police, Kayihura said. I am just following up.
Sources said the investor(s) will have to construct a police
headquarters at Naguru.
The same investor(s) will also have to build a
barracks to accommodate the personnel from Nsambya, although Kayihura
declined to say just where such a place would be save to note that it
would be outside Kampala in spacious surroundings.
Places being considered to host the barracks, and the training school,
however, are Namanve, east of Kampala, Nagalama in Mukono District, and
Nakasongala in Nakasongola District.
Kayihura told President Museveni at a recent function in Ntungamo
District that out of the 19,000 personnel the force has, only 8,000 are
accommodated in police units, however
dilapidated. | 
