Kadaga petitions Museveni over Jinja land grabbing

What you need to know:

Ms Kadaga said she had been shocked to learn that land which had earlier been earmarked for redevelopment with a special budgetary allocation from Parliament had been allocated to private developers

Jinja.
The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has asked President Museveni to intervene in what she describes as increasing cases of land grabbing in Jinja Town.

Ms Kadaga raised the concerns on Sunday at the Bugiri District headquarters during a thanksgiving ceremony for the newly appointed NRM Secretary General, Ms Justin Kasule Lumumba. The function was presided over by the President.

Ms Kadaga said she had been shocked to learn that land which had earlier been earmarked for redevelopment with a special budgetary allocation from Parliament had been allocated to private developers.

“Your Excellency, something needs to be done in Jinja because as I was touring the town I saw that Napier Market land was being encroached on and even the public toilet around it had been broken down and houses were being raised up,” she said.

Ms Kadaga, who is also the Kamuli MP, also raised concerns about the quality of work done under the African Development Bank-funded Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Programme.

She said there is limited value for the Shs28 billion quoted to have been spent on the market that was commissioned by President Museveni in November 2014, which remains unoccupied.

Ms Kadaga said the stalls that had been constructed are not only small but also fewer in number than what had earlier been agreed upon.

The numbers

4,000: The number of stalls built by the contractor instead of the agreed upon 7,000 stalls in Jinja Central Market.