Buganda Land Board on the spot over Makindye roadworks

Contractors tarmack Namasuba-Ndejje road in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality in November last year. PHOTO BY JAMES KABENGWA

What you need to know:

  • The municipal engineer, Mr Geoffrey Ndiwalana, has said many residents claim land in road reserves yet the demarcations are clearly known.
  • The land tenure system in this municipality is largely private Mailo owned by Buganda Kingdom.
  • But he quickly added that after BLB surveys, land owners are made to pay for the entire acreage as surveyed.
  • The municipality has no budget to compensate residents in road reserves or those immediately near the reserves.

Leaders in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality, Kampala, have accused the Buganda Land Board (BLB) officials of hampering the roads construction project in the area.
The municipal engineer, Mr Geoffrey Ndiwalana, has said many residents claim land in road reserves yet the demarcations are clearly known. The land tenure system in this municipality is largely private Mailo owned by Buganda Kingdom.
“It is a very difficult situation when professional colleagues decide to do away with standards. I cannot tell whether this is a deliberate action intended at financial gains or it is a matter of not knowing the right thing to do,”Mr Ndiwalana told Daily Monitor yesterday.

But he quickly added that after BLB surveys, land owners are made to pay for the entire acreage as surveyed.
The municipality has no budget to compensate residents in road reserves or those immediately near the reserves.
“We only agree with our residents after a raft of community meetings, they give us portions of their land without pay. This is the model we have used all over the municipality. But some of our people who may have freshly paid for land in road reserves tend to resist. And you know this is natural,” Ndiwalana says.

He therefore urged the BLB to ‘work with us so that we develop the nation together.’
“We will not be able to work in isolation. We must go along with our partners such as the Buganda Land Board,” Mr Ndiwalana said.
The BLB deputy spokesperson, Mr John Mark Golooba, said the challenge is that they don’t have an approved physical plan in Makindye.
“But even then we take our survey reports to Wakiso district for approval,” he said.

New roads
Four roads are being tarmacked in the municipality and residents are giving free land and demolishing their own installations, which are located within marked areas.
The roads include, Ndejje municipal road measuring 1 kilometer, Namasuba-Ndejje-Kitiko road, and St Noah Nfuufu-Seguku in Bunamwaya Division.
Other roads earmarked for tarmacking include Municipal- Gangu, Mutundwe-Mirembe–Nateete, Kanaaba-Kigo, Kibutika and Namata.
“We want to modernise our municipality to the level of a city. It is the only way to look beautiful and reward our tax payers,” Mr Ndiwalana said.