Inside the Bugolobi market landlord-tenant dispute

Sometimes land that has been undeveloped and undervalued for decades experiences a seemingly overnight appreciation that leaves its owners in a predicament. Ordinarily, land appreciation is good for its owners because it offers them a multitude ways they can benefit from it. They could choose to develop the land themselves or sale at an astronomical price and invest elsewhere.

 This factor of profitability however, brings with it other forces that can negatively impact land owners. Sometimes those forces are too powerful for some people to fight off. This, is essentially what is happening in the Bugolobi market, where lockup owners are accusing their tenants of defaulting on rent for almost two years.

The landlords claim their efforts to get legal redress from Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) and police have been in vain. They accuse some KCCA officers of conniving with the rent defaulting tenants to forcefully continue occupying their spaces and even causing them bodily harm in their bid to collect the money owed to them.

History

The market currently located in Middle East Bugolobi, started off in the 1990s, as mud and wattle shops with papyrus structures and wooden stalls.  All this changed when in 1996, the World Bank funded the development of three markets in Kampala including Nateete, Owino and Bugoloobi.

Norman Koomu, then in his early 20s had been vending food in Bugoloobi market for more than five years.  His experience in the area earned him a position of general secretary of the proposed new market. He was part of the leadership team that helped ease tensions between the vendors and the project management.

“The vendors were opposed to the project because they thought they were being evicted to create space for others. To ally their fears, they took us to tour other similar markets where the former vendors had taken occupancy after the completion of the projects. So we came back and shared our findings with the vendors and as soon as we got everyone’s consent the project started,” Koomu says.

It soon became apparent that the money the World Bank had released was only enough to build the stalls, the toilets, drainage channels and a wall fence around the market. It was later agreed that instead of a fence, outward-facing shops should surround the market.

To overcome this shortfall, KCC met with the potential beneficiaries, the area chairman, Fred Ruhindi and the market administration and worked out a plan.

It was agreed that the owners of the mud and wattle shops be given the opportunity to build permanent ones.  Those who did not have money for the construction were allowed to sell their rights.

“Each lockup cost Shs3.8m and whoever paid fully was given a provisional allocation letter from KCC, pending a lease agreement,” Koomu says.

Although the new owners went ahead to construct their allocated spaces, they are still waiting for the lease agreements that were promised by KCC have never come, 28 years later.

Presidential directives

According to sources, the tensions in the market ownership worsened in the last four years, following the different presidential directives on government markets.

The first directive was in 2020 when President Yoweri Museveni suspended the then market leaders over exploitative tendencies and directed KCCA to institute interim leaders for six months and organise fresh elections.

However, KCCA delayed the polls pending the approval of the market ordinance that would regulate all matters relating to markets. It was after this directive that some tenants started reneging agreements with their landlords.

The second round of directives were announced on Nov 2, 2021, when President Museveni directed as flows:

•That KCCA manages all public markets

•That market revenue collection should be regulated under the KCCA market ordinance

•That the interim market leadership that was formed after the first directive in 2020 serve no later than February 2022

•That all street vendors be evicted

•That KCCA must provide market masters to oversee utilities and administrative concerns in the markets.

On Nov 16, 2022, a third round of directives was announced by the president, disbanding all market leadership in all public markets in Kampala and ordering for the immediate transfer of the operations of these markets to the KCCA Executive Director, including Bugoloobi market. 

Tenant-landlord conflicts

This created a sense of dual ownership of the Bugoloobi Market, which resulted in tenants’ refusal to pay rent to their landlords.  A number of tenants now pay to KCCA instead of their landlords although some are still paying rent to the rightful landlord.

Defying evictions

One shop owner says his efforts to evict the defaulting tenants have been met with harassment and sometimes physical assault.

“Our tenant had not paid for six months when we decided to evict him. When we gave him the eviction notice, he informed us he was not ready to leave. After 30 days elapsed and he still had not paid, we had no choice but to forcefully evict. We changed locks and thought we had solved the problem. To our shock, he came back cut the new locks and moved back in. We appealed to both KCCA and police, who have not been able to help,” the shop owner says.

When he went to Bugolobi police, he was told that the matter concerning the market shops is out of their hands. They advised him to talk to KCCA.

Physical assault

Another lockup owner only identified as Beatrice was beaten up by goons apparently hired by her tenant when she came to demand for her rent. She is currently in court over the battery case but she claims the police OC is playing games with her file.

“KCCA has office in the market but it does not care to solve these conflicts.  We want to be compensated if they took over our shops,” says Beatrice.

KCCA official implicated

The shop owners are bitter that not only are they denied the rent that is due to them, they are also harassed and beaten by the rogue tenants with support from KCCA.

“The KCCA officer in charge of this market is a one Hadijja Nantezza.  She apparently advised tenants to stop paying rent to the shop owners, and empowers them to defy evictions. Some tenants are now claiming that they pay the rent to her instead,” one shop owner says. 

In a meeting of dozens of shop owners on Wednesday March 6, landlords accused KCCA of riding on the presidential directives and conspiring to take the shops away from the owners without compensation.

According to sources in the market, KCCA has on several occasions forcefully opened shops closed by their owners and rented them out without their consent.

One tenant confirmed that he has been paying rent to KCCA adding that expecting him to pay two landlords would be unfair.

“KCCA claims they have no knowledge of us the shop-owners but this is just plain false. They have been collecting ground rent from us for more than 25 years. We still have the reference numbers KCCA gave to us by which to pay ground rent. None of us got a shop without an allocation. We are all registered in their system. They can lose the data, but not us. At least we have evidence that KCCA knows about us. They woke up overnight and decided to take over shops our without compensation. They treat us as squatters but we are not,” a landlord says. 

“Even if we are squatters, the law says that if someone is a squatter on your land, they deserve to be compensated. We know the land belongs to KCCA.  But they invited us to invest in those lockups. For them to wake up after 28 years later and throw us out, without compensation is illegal. And we have to get compensated based on today’s value. Property in Bugolobi has appreciated so much between 1996 and today,” another shop owner states.

The law

Article 26 of the Uganda Constitution 1995 is under Chapter Four (Protection and promotion of fundamental and other human rights and freedoms) of the Constitution. Article 26 is about Protection from deprivation of property. It states as follows:

(1) Every person has a right to own property either individually or in association with others.

(2) No person shall be compulsorily deprived of property or any interest in or right over property of any description except where the following conditions are satisfied—

(a) the taking of possession or acquisition is necessary for public use or in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; and

(b) the compulsory taking of possession or acquisition of property is made under a law which makes provision for—

(i) prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation, prior to the taking of possession or acquisition of the property; and

(ii) a right of access to a court of law by any person who has an interest or right over the property.

The shop owners claim KCCA has also on several occasions stated that their leases have expired, giving the body the right to repossess the land.

However, the shop owners insist that there was no lease that was signed. After the provisional allocations were given, KCCA promised to return with lease agreements in the near future but never came back with them.

“Let them bring the lease and show us how that lease has expired so that we willingly vacate their land. But short of that, we are not leaving,” another shop owner says.

What they say

Shop owner

KCCA claims they have no knowledge of us the shop-owners but this is just plain false. They have been collecting ground rent from us for more than 25 years. We still have the reference numbers KCCA gave to us by which to pay ground rent. None of us got a shop without an allocation. We are all registered in their system.

Norman Koomu

The vendors were opposed to the project because they thought they were being evicted to create space for others. To ally their fears, they took us to tour other similar markets where the former vendors had taken occupancy after the completion of the projects. So we came back and shared our findings with the vendors and as soon as we got everyone’s consent the project started.