Know your hood : Kyengera; an unpopular real estate gem near the city
Rent prices in Kyengera are quite affordable. Photo By Faiswal Kasirye.
What you need to know:
Kyengera is a well guarded real estate secret. The area is located near the city centre, is not so congested by the city’s traffic but it is not very popular. That means land here is still very affordable.
If you are not exactly sure about the location of Kyengera, it is that town right after Busega roundabout where travellers taking the Masaka route can expect to get some roasted gonja and chicken.
But how did this tradition begin? Why isn’t the neighbouring Nsangi say, known for these roadside snacks as much as Kyengera?
Massive part of Kyengera under one landlord
James Kasule, the LC 1 Defence Secretary of Kyengera Central who has been a resident of the area for the last 50 years says that 25 years ago, Kyengera was a slum with small houses because squatters with large pieces of land (bibanja owners) were not selling.
“But when they died, their heirs started selling off land and that is how Kyengera started developing. However, the real owner of most of Kyengera was a man called Edward Kabuusu. So whoever wants to buy land gets a land title from Kabuusu’s heirs. And they have been very good people. We thank God for that because they have not had incidents of people getting evicted the way we hear other landlords in other areas doing,” Kasule says.
Cost of land and accommodation
But how much does land in Kyengera cost? “The plots are cheap compared to other areas around the city and the water and electricity are accessible,” Antonia Natukunda, a lawyer in the city who resides in the Kyengera gives the main reason as to why she and her husband chose to make their home here.“But the place has failed to pick up inspite of the fact that it is near the city and there is no traffic jam,” Natukunda adds.
Refusing to pick up however could be an advantage to those who are looking for a place to set up a home at an affordable price. Kyengera is about the same distance as Kyaliwajjala from the city centre yet, Ahmed Ssendigya who operates a paraffin town in the trading centre says that a 50x100ft plot goes for Shs – Shs10m.
For those who rent, the prices are equally friendly when compared to places like Ntinda.
“A one-bedroomed self-contained house goes for Shs150,000-Shs200,000 per month, while a those who have families can find a three-bedroomed house at Shs400,000 per month,” Kasule says.
Places with such low rental costs are usually very costly when it comes to transport used to get there but not Kyengera. In a taxi, the standard charge to or from the city is Shs1,500.
Developments in Kyengera
While a recent settler like Natukunda may be complaining that the area is developing at a snail’s pace, Kasule thinks Kyengera has come a long from the slum it was some 25 years back.
“We also have two banks; Equity and Diamond Trust Bank and we thank government for working on the road from Busega to Masaka because this too has attracted people to settle and develop Kyengera,” he adds.
The other developments include seven petrol stations, the Sesaco Coffee manufacturing plant, and entertainment places like Lugya Pub which is considered the best hang-out joint in the area.
The fairly well-off class of Kyengera that does not want to deal with the traffic jams of Kampala while taking their children to school have an option of Kyengera Parents’ School, a primary school that charges about Shs200,000 for day scholars and more than twice that (about Shs600,000) for those in the boarding section.
Residents also talk highly of Mugwanya Summit College where they can take their teenagers for a secondary education at a tune of Shs300,000 for day scholars.
Widespread fake money and filthiness
Amongst other crimes, the defence secretary says that the most rampant is fake money.
“Con men bring this fake money to Kyengera to spend it and dispose it off thinking that we are ‘villagers’ but the authorities here are wide awake and the people are not as ‘green’ as they think. We have made arrests in fake money amounting to Shs 800,000 and we have the prisoners,” he explains.
To Ssendigya however, the biggest frustration with the authorities is the failure to enforce cleanliness.
“The place is dirty and they do not care,” he seethes.
The town is littered with garbage and the roadside market where the gonja and chicken are roasted is filthy and teeming with flies (sorry if this is your favourite place for buying these snacks along your journey but the authorities can call us when they clean it up and we promise to write about it).
I experience Ssendigya’s frustration first hand when I find irresistible jack fruit right in the middle of the town. Ssendigya advises me to throw it by his pump but I refuse insisting that there has to be a bin somewhere by some shop. Well, I walk with the rubbish some good distance before giving up. Infact, I had to carry the rubbish back home with me.
