Magere-Gayaza: A transformed residential area

Magere-Gayaza started attracting new residents after an access road was opened up. Photo by Shabibah Nakirigya

What you need to know:

  • Once an abandoned village, Magere-Gayaza is now a popular residence praised for its clear land tenancy policy.
  • Matovu says the place was isolated during the 1960s and 1980s and had fully grown grass known as magere in Luganda (Canada Bluegrass). It was because of this that the place was named Magere by people who settled there.

Apollo Matovu, a resident and Magere’s Local Council chairperson, , describes the area as a peaceful and comfortable place any person can find ease living in. Matovu has spent nearly his entire life in Magere, something he prides in having seen the place transform from an isolated village in the 1970s and 1960s to a promising residential area.

“When I was growing up, Magere was less occupied compared to today,” he says. Matovu adds that a number of factors could have contributed to the gradual change the place has experienced over the last two or three decades.

Magere, just like Busiika, was isolated and opened up after the construction of the road leading there. This, Matovu says, has in the last years led to an increase in the number of residents.
He also adds that the political stability the country gained in 1986 could have helped give the place a comfortable and peaceful environment, something he says helped attract people from different parts of the country.

“In the years of political turbulence, most people did not want to live in places that were isolated and bushy,” Matovu explains.
Robert Mwasiike, a resident, believes Magere having a clear land tenancy policy is another reason people have been endeared to the area.

“The Land tenantship policy in Magere-Gayaza is clear and can easily be understood by anyone who is interested in buying land,” he says, adding that cases of land theft are rarely heard of in Magere.
Mwasiike also compares Gayaza-Magere to the now almost fully occupied Jinja road.

“Places on Gayaza road, Magere inclusive, have not been occupied by manufacturing industries just like places on Jinja road,” he says. This, he says, has helped make the environment in these places accommodative.

Reason behind name
Matovu says the place was isolated during the 1960s and 1980s and had fully grown grass known as magere in Luganda (Canada Bluegrass). It was because of this that the place was named Magere by people who settled there.

“Usually, most places in Buganda at the time were named after physical features within the place or any prominent person who also lived there,” he says.
However, sometimes some places were named by the Kabaka depending on the situations they were in.
“Magere had to be named Magere because of that unique grass our place had, that no other place in Buganda had,” he says.

Cost of land
Given the fact that Magere has in the last years managed to attract quite a number of people, the cost of land has also shot up.
Mwasiike says an acre of land today goes for Shs300m.
“Back in the day, an acre of land went for as low as Shs20m,” he says. He adds that recent developments in the area have also contributed to the high demand of land in the area.
“The city [Kampala] has in the last years been expanding. It is because of this that people have decided to settle in the surrounding areas, Magere being one of them,” he says.

Security
“Despite being isolated for some time, Magere even then had good security and still is secure today,” says Apollo Matovu, the Magere Local Council chairperson. “Of late, we have’t had any serious criminal cases. Security is very good in Magere,” he adds.