Masaka leaders fight over four-acre land
Locals walk past Masaka District offices at Ssaza Village in May last year. The district and city leaders are embroiled in a wrangle over the ownership of a prime property. PHOTO | FILE
A row has erupted between the leadership of Masaka District and Masaka City over a prime property housing the district headquarters.
Although the district leaders want to sell the property and raise funds for erecting its headquarters outside the city, their counterparts in the city insist they need the same land to build a new city hall.
The property sits on four acres at Kitabira Hill behind the Uganda Post Office building in the heart of Masaka City.
Mr Godfrey Bamanyisa, the Masaka City clerk, said they are already in advanced stages to erect a five-storeyed city hall at the disputed land.
“As we prepare to break ground for the city hall, we have already awarded a contract to OBUNTU Consultant Company to make designs and artistic impressions of the structure for the city headquarters and we expect to have all the drawings before October,” he said in an interview over the weekend.
He revealed that they plan to start construction works with the available Shs1.5 billion, which was acquired from selling the mayor gardens.
“The new city hall we want will cost about Shs6 billion, but we are starting with what we have, more monies will be allocated in the subsequent budgets,” he said. But Mr Andrew Lukyamuzi Batemyeto, the chairperson of Masaka District, wondered why city authorities are putting all their eyes on Kitabiro land, a property he says is owned by the district.
“We had a separate arrangement with the city leaders where we agreed that the property at Kitabiro will not be affected by the minister’s directive,” he said.
Mr Batemyeto said although the city leadership is aware that the disputed property belongs to the district, they have stubbornly maintained their quest to take it over.
“If they insist on taking it [Kitabiro property] by force, we will have no option but to drag them to court,” he added.
Mr Batemyeto said other properties the district decided to retain include a 2.5-acre piece of land at Ssaza Hill, a building near Masaka Central Market on Elgin Street, and another four-acre piece of land at Bwala Hill.
Those handed over to the city include; some prime land in Kijabwemi, a Masaka City suburb, Ndegeya Core Primary Teachers College land, and another piece of land that is supposed to house a public science laboratory.
Ms Florence Namayanja, the mayor of Masaka City, said the city has earmarked Kitabiro as a suitable place for the city council headquarters.
“Unless they [district leaders] did understand the circular the line minister issued after the creation of new cities two years ago, it clearly shows who owns properties within the city,” she said.
According to the guidelines issued by the Local Government minister, Mr Raphael Magyezi, in 2020, all tangible and intangible assets of districts, former municipal councils, division councils, annexed town councils, and sub-counties falling within the territorial boundaries of the city are supposed to be the latter’s property.
These include vacant land, markets, administrative buildings, stadia, bus parks, recreation centres, community halls, forest reserves, and landing sites.
Background
Five years ago, the city council, then a municipality, sold one of its properties at Shs1.5b to raise money to construct the city hall. However, the project has not yet kicked off.
Ever since Masaka was elevated to a city in July 2020, some local leaders have been pushing to have the district headquarters remain in the city, but councillors and other district leaders have opposed the idea, saying it is against decentralisation policy.
