Govt makes U-turn on bus park case

KAMPALA. The Solicitor General has withdrawn letters authorising the eviction of a city property mogul from Qualicel Bus Terminal Shopping Centre, Qualicel Bus Terminal and Nabukeera Arcade.
In a November 6 letter, Ms Charity Nabasa, on behalf of the Solicitor General, said the previous orders to evict Mr Drake Lubega and his agents from plots 43 to 47 on Nakivubo Road were made in error.
“The said letter was issued in error as there were no interlocutory orders to be executed in Constitutional Applications No 31 and 32 of 2011, Francis Drake Lubega Vs AG and two others and therefore, the contents of the same should be disregarded,” Ms Nabasa wrote to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Martin Okoth-Ochola.

Previous orders
On July 17 and October 23, Ms Nabasa had written to police ordering the eviction.
She ordered that the land and property there be given to Horizon Coaches Ltd owned by former rally driver Charles Muhangi.
On Monday, armed police escorted men who forced Mr Lubega and his agents off the property.
Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima confirmed receipt of the Attorney General’s letter cancelling the previous eviction orders.
“The person who sent us the first letter has recalled it. Now the Directorate of Legal and Human Rights Services is in consultation with the office of the Solicitor General for the final position. We shall follow the office’s guidance,” Mr Kayima said yesterday. Mr Mansur Matovu, who owns buildings on the contested land, said they lawfully acquired the leases of the said land from the then Kampala City Council (now Kampala Capital City Authority) and they were allowed to construct structures on it.
“The courts made rulings but Mr Muhangi comes up with the same old document to harass us. We have spent a lot of money constructing those buildings, but when they came, they pulled out more than 500 shop doors and destroyed our property,” Mr Matovu said.
He said despite the new order, they have not been allowed to take possession of the property.
“When our agents went to serve them documents to that effect, they were beaten and thrown out. We have been pushed too far. We cannot bear this,” Mr Matovu said.
Efforts to speak to Mr Muhangi were futile as our repeated calls went unanswered.
The wrangles of ownership of the plots started in 1993 when bus managers allegedly paid a premium of Shs1b to the then Kampala City Council to manage the bus park.
In 2006, Mr Muhangi sued Mr Lubega, Mr John Ssebalamu, Mr John Bosco Muwonge and Mr Christine Nalubega for illegally acquiring the plots. Since then, there have been several varying court orders on ownership of the land.