Land commission, KCCA clash over new Parliament chambers

Rising concern. An aerial view of the new Parliament chambers under construction. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA

What you need to know:

  • In another letter written on the same date, Mr Isoke asked the permanent secretary, ministry of Lands, Housing to immediately survey the land and produce title deeds.
  • Whereas KCCA claims that the land does not belong to Parliament, Mr Isoke said that the Authority was driving in a wrong lane, since the land initially belonged to the Ministry of Finance.

Parliament. Only four months into the construction of the new chambers of Parliament, a fresh row between Kampala Capital City Authority and the Uganda Land Commission has erupted.
The fight is about the ownership of the Chogm Monument Park, with KCCA expressing fear that the ongoing construction will encroach on other property not owned by Parliament.

However, the Uganda Land Commissio has protested KCCA position, also claiming the same property and pledging to stand with Parliament in the construction of the chambers.
Earlier, KCCA director in charge of physical planning, Mr Moses Atwine, wrote to Parliament requesting the construction works to be halted.

In his letter dated November 22, Mr Atwine stated that, “there is an existing National Water and Sewerage Corporation main line right within the construction area which has been exposed by the extended excavations.”
This, Mr Atwine said, besides contravening the Water Act, stands “as an eminent danger of disrupting water supply to the Central Business District [once] the pipes are tampered with.”

He further stressed that Parliament has never been authorised by KCCA to make any alterations, not even to use any neighbouring property for the development.
The move by KCCA forced Parliament to seek redress from the Uganda Land Commission and secured several commitments, among them, a new certificate of ownership.

The Parliament director of communications and public affairs, Mr Chris Obore, told Daily Monitor yesterday that KCCA concerns had been put to rest by the Uganda Land Commission. “Chogm Monument Park belongs to the Uganda Land Commission, KCCA has no permission or authorisation to give to Parliament,” Mr Obore said.

“We get so many visitors and you find that Parliament is so squeezed yet the open place (Chogm Park) is available,” he added.
The chairperson of Uganda Land Commission, Mr Baguma Isoke, in a November 23 letter to the Speaker, said it was clear the land under contest is public land and an extension of Parliament grounds, to which he committed to issue a new title.

“I am taking steps to survey that piece of land [and] produce deed plans and issue a new certificate of Title with the ownership being Uganda Land Commission,” reads the commitment in part.
In another letter written on the same date, Mr Isoke asked the permanent secretary, ministry of Lands, Housing to immediately survey the land and produce title deeds.

Whereas KCCA claims that the land does not belong to Parliament, Mr Isoke said that the Authority was driving in a wrong lane, since the land initially belonged to the Ministry of Finance.
“I wish to clarify that during the re-design of the road system around Parliament building, former Police headquarters and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, part of Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road was blocked off from the Crested Towers round about,” Mr Isoke stated.

In the latest development, Parliament has instructed its construction consultant, Ms Ssentongo and Partners for “appropriate action and information so that the work is not interrupted.” By press time, KCCA was yet to respond to our requests on their next course of action.
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