Residents call for probe into UNRA compensation method

Ongoing. Workers go about their business on the 11.5km Kashenyi-Mitooma Road on Tuesday. Some of the people who have been affected by this project claim Unra has not compensated them for the their property. PHOTO BY FELIX AINEBYOONA.

What you need to know:

  • The project, which is funded by the government at the cost of Shs49b, commenced on January 2017 and is expected to be completed in January next year.

MITOOMA. Residents of Katenga Sub-county in Mitooma District have asked government to probe the procedure which Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) uses to compensate people affected by their projects.
This follows claims that Unra undervalued some of the property belonging to people affected by the construction of the 11.5km Kashenyi-Mitooma.
The residents also claim they were not compensated for some of their property which they were compelled to vacate to pave way for the road construction.

No compensation
Mr Perez Kakumu, a resident of Katenga II Village, Kirembe Parish, Katenga Sub-county, told Daily Monitor on Tuesday that for instance, the road junction at Katenga II, was altered and the Project Affected persons were not compensated.
“We need the road to ease our transport but we want the right people to be adequately compensated through the right procedures,” Mr Kakumu said.
Mr Jessy Gumisiriza, a resident of Katenga II, said part of his land near the road has been declared a road reserve yet at the time of assessment for compensation, this was not put into consideration.

“My family is going to live in a risky and noisy environment yet they should have compensated me such that I look for a safer alternative place,” he said.
More than 25 people claim the compensation was not commensurate with the value of their property, while others say they have not been compensated at all.

Mr Simpson Atwijukire, a Unra official at the project site, said it is their policy to compensate the affected persons before starting work. He, however, said the Kashenyi-Mitooma Road project, which was supposed to be completed in January, has been delayed by people who rejected the compensation and those who have refused to leave the site even after compensation.
The Unra head of compensation, Mr William Matovu, said those who are not contented with how they were compensated should use other avenues such as courts of law to have the matter solved amicably.

“As Unra, we have a grievance system where we handle complaints of the project affected persons. Whoever is not comfortable with our systems can use other avenues to seek redress,” Mr Matovu said.
He explained that most of the project affected persons have been compensated except those who have not fulfilled all the requirements to facilitate their payments.
The project, which is funded by the government at the cost of Shs49b, commenced on January 2017 and is expected to be completed in January next year.