Controversy rocks plans to develop Source of Nile

“There must be a willing buyer and a willing seller,” counsel Elias Habakurama told Monitor, adding, “These are land grabbers and nothing else.”
In August, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities moved to implement a 20-year Source of the Nile Master Plan “with the aim of transforming the area and its environs into a world class tourism destination”.

The plan, according to a mapping seen by this paper, will not only affect raw land and common properties like homes, but also major infrastructure such as hotels and industries.
If the government gets its way, it could become the biggest ever compulsory land acquisition in the country by value, which the landlords claim is in the region of trillions of shillings.
 
The letter
On August 3, 1858, John Speke wrote that he had discovered the Source of the Nile. It led to a bitter disagreement with fellow explorer Richard Burton. Exactly 165 years later, Ms Doreen Katusiime, the permanent secretary at the Tourism ministry, wrote to Njeru LC3 chairperson about developments at the same Source. But like with Speke, contents of Katusiime’s letter have left landlords along the Nile gushing with anger.

Ms Katusiime said the implementation of the plan will involve infrastructure enhancements for development and diversification of tourism range of products and services, as well as integrated systems for marketing and promoting the site as a prime tourist destination.
“To facilitate a smooth development process, it is imperative to acquire land within a 10km stretch and 400m from the water banks, including the areas of Bugungu prison and Rippon Falls where the developments will be situated,” Ms Katusiime wrote.
But the landlords have vowed to wash the government’s intention with the fast-flowing waters of the Nile.

“The project structure has not been unveiled to the residents. This project does not have the parameters that should actually inform the project of this kind,” Ms Habakurama said.
Through their lawyers, Habakurama and Co. Advocates, the landlords on October 16 served the Attorney General with a statutory notice-cum-intention to sue, indicating that the purpose for which the vast real properties intended to be acquired does not meet the conditions for compulsory acquisition of citizens’ land as spelt out under Article 26 of the Constitution.

“The purported intended compulsory acquisition of the valuable properties is fraudulent and is being orchestrated by unscrupulous well positioned land grabbers in government, with the ultimate objective of dispossessing the intended plaintiffs of their private real properties at a minimal compensation and subsequently sell off the plaintiffs’ land to a cartel of so-called foreign and indigenous land developers at exorbitant prices,” the affidavit says.
Ms Katusiime told Monitor that the government has talked about developing the Source of the Nile “since you were a child, I am sure”.
“Isn’t it high time we did something?” she said, adding, “Nobody is trying to grab anyone’s land.”

Mr Daudi Migereko, the board chairperson of Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), reiterated: “Nobody, not the government or [UTB], is taking anybody’s land. Article 26 of the Constitution gives direction on any such matters.”
 
To its own
The Nile is the longest river in the world that spits its waters some 6,695km north of its Source, in the Mediterranean Sea. But its Source in Jinja is arguably the most desolate for all its global geographical significance and tourism potential.
The makeshift structures at the place where tourists of all weights get to be shown, “over there, that is the Source of the Nile”, is one that would have made sense in 1858 when Speke was claiming his discovery.

Ms Agatha Rukeribuga, who has run the place since 1993, told this reporter of her frustration at the lack of development in the area. Pointing at what looked like a few eddies, she said they were what was left of Ripon Falls. It was submerged after Owen Falls Dam was constructed in 1954.
There are no boardwalks, with pillars and rails for a pier previously used by tourists to go farther into the Nile long submerged. Those daring enough to see the real source have to take boats.

Interestingly, amid the desolation, are hushed activities. A retired Supreme Court judge has for years been embroiled in ownership of a chunk of land at the Source of the Nile. The judge, however, appears to have failed to wrestle the property from a claimant who has the backing of a top military General who, until a few years ago, headed security agencies in the country.
Most of the riverbank downstream remains heavily decked by canopies as they were in the Speke era.

Some 25km downstream is Busowooko Falls, one of the fastest growing tourist attractions in Jinja, but one with hardly any infrastructure. Tourists to this destination in Budondo Sub-county must return to the city for the night. And there is only a semblance of toilets.
Monitor has established that swathes of land along the riverbank at Busowooko Falls have been acquired by top politicians, including a member of the First Family.
On Wednesday, the government commissioned a Shs15b project that will see the construction of a glass-viewing pier stretching into the Nile waters from the Source.

Like all along the Nile from the Source, rafting and canoeing are the things. It only costs the boats, after all.
In a way, tourism development has been left to itself – despite the fact that the potential of tourism in Jinja rests on the Nile.
Even with its potential not fully harnessed, steadily growing tourist numbers are estimated to have reached 1.5 million per year, contributing 7.7 percent to GDP, Uganda Investment Authority said in August.
 
Controversy
In writing to the Njeru local leadership, Ms Katusiime introduced Strategic Friends International (SFI), a consultancy firm, to undertake a resettlement action plan in 18 months.
“This exercise will establish who owns land within the development area, the land tenure under which it is owned…” Ms Katusiime said, adding, “That will then be followed by a valuation led by the chief government valuer. If 10km cannot be acquired then how much can be? That needs to be ascertained to guide the development.”

But SFI, owned by Mr Kosea Wambaka, an NRM functionary and businessman with an elaborate academic CV, is like sediment that has run against rocks in the Nile waters. The landlords, under their umbrella, the River Nile Land Grabbing Frontier, said SFI had kicked off the mapping without their prior consultation.

The group says the ministry only engaged them after they stormed a previous meeting, which local leaders organised at a hotel in Njeru.
Their anger got to boiling point when SFI started pegging demarcations on land within the corridor around Amber Court. The area includes companies like Madhvani’s packaging firm, Mulbox, Jinja Sailing Club, Nile Polysack and over a dozen hotels on either side.

“The Tourism minister, Col Tom Butime, held a meeting with local leaders and some landlords in September but he was not clear on the 400m radius, instead noting that related infrastructure works were to cover a radius of 3km on either side of the river,” Mr Emmanuel Mudali, a landlord and one of the leaders of the group, said.
Mr Katusiime, however, clarified that it was 400m and not 3km. Mr Wambaka, too, insisted on the same, saying the pegs were demarcating areas within 400m from the riverbank. Mr Migereko said SFI will submit a report that will be discussed in public.

“The outcome of these discussions will determine the way forward,” he added.
However, the group says the government seeks to acquire 164 acres of land at Shs250m per acre.
“You see the total compensation doesn’t exceed Shs40b yet there are more than 70 factories being talked about. That’s the fact, only 10 houses can cost it,” said Ms Grace Robinson.

Mr Wambaka said it was not possible to ascertain the value of the properties before a survey was completed and a valuation done.
“This is a complete disruption of facts. We are in the process of conducting town hall meetings with the community to explain the concept and process,” said Vivian Lyazi, assistant commissioner for quality assurance at the Tourism ministry, who has been tasked as liaison of the project.

To the bitter end
The group also says SFI’s surveying, mapping, pegging and marking their properties in areas of Nalufenya Parish, Amber Court, Kimaka, Jinja City and Naminya North Parish amount to trespass. It has taken to holding regular meetings and canvassing a united front to challenge the ministry to the last letter in the law books.

There are times the nation has been treated to naked protests over land issues. But in Njeru last week, the group swore their confidence in the Constitution. Article 26(1) of the Constitution declares the right to own property. There is no provision in the Constitution that expressly confers upon the State the power of expropriation.
However, clause two of the same article prohibits deprivation of property unless certain conditions are satisfied. The condition is ‘public use’.

“There are many ways to develop tourism without displacing people,” said David Webb. “Maybe if they’re talking about national defence or public safety.”
“You’re developing for who?” businessman Nurudin Yusuf posed, adding, “If you think you are bringing development to benefit me and you are chasing me away, does it make sense?”

The challenge for the government is that there are way too many rats having fun and fattening on land expropriated from citizens and left to lie idle. The Standard Gauge Railway debacle, for instance, left several properties gathering bushes in Jinja after the government stopped development at the earmarked track-line.

The landlords say it could be the same, arguing that the Tourism ministry could first show its cards by developing the immediate Source of the Nile to stamp its vision clearly before thinking of taking over swathes of private land.
Ms Katusiime said the glass pier construction is a project that will deliver the ministry’s intentions to develop Jinja into a world class tourism destination.