Pastor Kakande defies Bamugemereire led commission on Nema permit

MASAKA. City Pastor Samuel Kakande has declined to submit the Environment Impart Assessment (EIA) permit to the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) as directed by the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s - led commission of inquiry, Daily Monitor has established.
While closing the public hearing on land maters in Masaka on October 6, Justice Bamugemereire directed Pastor Kakande of Synagogue Church of All Nations, who personally appeared before the commission, to return his EIA permit to Nema for cancellation after violating certain laws.

Mr Kakande had been given an ultimatum of October 10, 2017 to fulfil this requirement which he failed to comply with.
According to records before the Commission, Mr Kakande under his Aqua World Uganda Ltd owns over 40 square miles of land along the shores of Lake Victoria in Masaka, part of which has wetlands and forests which have been greatly depleted.

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Pastor Kakande grilled over illegal farming activities

The land commission found out that Pastor Kakande purchased each acre of land from the deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen Wilson Mbadi at only Shs851

Justice Bamugemereire had also directed Mr Kakande to immediately halt farming activities in the area, remove all his graders and excavators, surrender copies of his audited books of accounts, copies of his company annual tax returns to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) among other vital documents to the commission to allow it investigate alleged fraud in acquisition of land in the area.

Mr Kakande was also directed to appear before Masaka District environment authorities in person since they complained that he was elusive and had earlier turned down their summons.
According to Ms Noami Karekaho, the Nema spokesperson, the Authority has not yet received the permit from ‘the man of God.’

“Pr Kakande has obstinately refused to return that permit even after writing to him, we thought that he would bring it as the commission directed, but he is still dilly-dallying, I think the law should now take its course, ” Ms Karekaho said during a telephone interview last weekend .
Ms Karekaho told Daily Monitor that Nema had warned Mr Kakande after discovering that he had failed to adhere to the set terms before he was granted the permit to grow palm oil ,but he kept a deaf ear.

“During our investigations we discovered that Pastor Kakande had violated the EIA when he carried out rice growing, instead of palm oil, we terminated his permit, but continued with his activities” Ms Karekaho added.
But Mr Mathias Kintu, the coordinator of Pastor Kakande’s projects in Masaka, said they had complied with everything Justice Bamugemereire’s commission asked for but insisted that it was pointless to return an EIA permit to Nema yet it had already been cancelled.

“Nema has the powers to cancel permits and once they do it then the document becomes as good as useless. Let them write to us informing us that our permit was cancelled,” Mr Kintu said.
However, Ms Karekaho noted that it is a requirement to return the permit to Nema as someone may wrongly continue to use it.
She further revealed to Daily Monitor that after asking Mr Kankande to return the said permit, he instead submitted new terms of reference applying to grow rice.
“We told him that we cannot grant him a new permit unless when he has returned the one that was cancelled,” she added.

The commission of inquiry into land maters is still investigating circumstances under which the pastor acquired over 40 square miles off the shores of Lake Victoria. Mr Kakande has since accepted to cooperate. Information before the commission indicates that Ms Noeline Ndagire , a secretary to Mr Kakande purchased 150 hectares of land from Masaka District land board at only Shs250,000 on September 30, 2014 , which she later sold to Mr Kakande at over Shs70 million which the commission found irregular.

Another questionable land deal was that of 235 hectares in Buwunga Sub -county in Masaka District which was allocated to the deputy Chief of Defense Forces, Lt. Gen Wilson Mbadi at Shs200,000 which the latter also reportedly sold to Pastor Kakande at Shs80million after a few days. This implies that Pr Kakande purchased each acre of land from Gen Mbadi at Shs851, which the commission found to be irregular.

He told the commission that though the land is registered in his names, it will soon be transferred in the names of Synagogue Church of Nations, which he heads, insisting that the property belongs to his followers.

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