How Luzira Sale Will Expose Gov’t Fraud In Prohibited Access To Property
Luzira prisons will be relocated to Mukono in order to create space for construction of a mega five-star hotel with an international conference centre. Tian Tang Group, one committed to establishing a classic Chinese enterprise in Africa is ready to cash in on the property. But a blockade awaits the move, veiled in a potential conflict of interest and presumed fraud.
A presidential directive in July 2022 tasked the ministry of internal affairs to start negotiations with the Chinese investors and identify land where the maximum prison, murchison bay, remand and women prison would be moved.
Subsequently, Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) embarked on the quest for land and after a series of presumed bumps and humps, identified 4 square miles in Ekoji, Mpunge sub-county, Mukono district. The property belongs to four beneficiaries of the late Antonio Lutwama Kabogoza’s estate who passed on in 1928.
Of the 4 square miles, UPS has agreed to purchase 1 for relocation. Unfortunately, the move is now engulfed in a legal blockade since the beneficiaries that include Kyejwe Slivest Bongole, Sembatya Lausenio, Nakasinde Regina and Ssemwanga Stevenson lack letters of administration despite the willingness to sell. This has raised questions on whether government will break its back and proceed to purchase the land contrary to how several Ugandans can’t make such transactions under present laws.
With or Without the Law?
Currently, there is a petition in the Constitutional Court by Lufunya Associated Advocates. It challenges the Attorney General and the Administrator General following the former, Kiryowa Kiwanuka’s directive prohibiting issuance of letters of administration to beneficiaries of property under the succession register and as previously provided for under Buganda’s succession law of 1912, which is now obsolete.
According to the lead counsel, Jonathan Kirumira, in case government decides to purchase the identified land and relocate Luzira prisons, it will simply be a manifestation of double standards, manipulation of the law and selfish interests that undermine Ugandans at the expense of the few privileged persons such as investors.
A proposal by the legal representative of the beneficiaries of the identified land involves selling the property to Uganda Prisons Service without letters of administration but ensuring that Uganda Prisons can obtain good title of the property.
A Presidential Directive Meets The Legal Blockade
Early next month, the Attorney General and Administrator General will be meeting Major General Kahinda Otafiire, the minister for internal affairs to review the beneficiaries’ willingness to sale and whether both have objections to the proposal to fulfill President Museveni’s order.
Uganda is heavily committed to investment beyond the customary manufacturing and agriculture to as well include the hospitality industry, where Tian Tang Group is bound to leverage, considering its diverse investment portfolio that covers 8 major areas including real estate and hotels, manufacturing, mineral development, security, machinery among others. And its local footprint dates back to 2002 before establishment of the group four years later.
A response to Lufunya’s petition by the Attorney General informs that prohibition of issuance of letters of administration wasn’t occasioned by the failure to include Statutory Instrument No. 150 of 1967 in the Local Government Act and neither can the Land Act, 1998 be visited upon them. How this response will differ from the President’s directive shall be a game-changer and highly awaited in the quest for access to properties under the succession register, where many Ugandans are sidelined without a definitive law to their rescue, yet government is on the move to forge its way out.
More affidavits have been added to Lufunya’s petition as scores of other subdued beneficiaries queue up seeking remedy of the succession crisis and the prohibited access to letters of administration and certificates of no objection.
