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Indians lose ownership of Bombo school
Pupils play at the school in Bombo Town last week. The school has been under a seven-year ownership wrangle. PHOTO BY DAN WANDERA.
What you need to know:
Surprising. The Indian Association says it is surprising that the school was handed to parents yet they were still negotiating.
LUWEERO.
Bombo Common Primary School in Luweero District has finally secured a title deed for the school land after a seven-year ownership dispute between parents and the Trustees of the Indian Association.
The school initially belonged to the Indian Association but parents applied for extension of the lease from Luweero District Land Board, after it had expired in 2004.
However, Mr Rajni Tailor, the Indian Association Trustees chairperson, in a 2009 letter to Bombo Town Council demanded that the parents’ application is overturned because the Indian Association had plans to establish a secondary school on the same piece of land.
He also demanded that the Indian Association is compensated with land equivalent to the one occupied by the school within Bombo Town and compensation for the structures if the land is given to parents.
However, Bombo Town Council argued that the lease extension was rightfully awarded to parents after approval by the Luweero District Land Board in 2007, a year before the Indian Association thought of renewing the lease offer.
The Luweero chief administrative officer, Mr Eutace Gakwandi, last week confirmed Bombo Common Primary School had been handed to parents because government was “prioritising the programme to have schools and health facilities get their respective land titles”.
Commenting on the new development, Mr Tailor said he was “surprised that a land title has been issued and given to parents yet negotiations were still ongoing”.
“We shall examine the new developments and respond accordingly,” he said, insisting the school belongs to the Indian Association.
The school, which sits on 3.25 acres, is located on Munday Road in Bombo Town.
Petition
Challenging the hand over: In 2008, the Indian Association petitioned the Minister of Lands seeking its intervention after learning that Luweero District Land Board had ignored their plea to have the lease offer for Plot 1A Munday Road in Bombo Town on which Bombo common Primary School is, handed to them.
