Family claims part of Kawolo hospital land

A family in Lugazi Municipality, Buikwe District is claiming ownership of part of the land housing Kawolo General Hospital.

The family of the late Banalaba Owekisa is claiming ownership of a five and a half square miles piece of land, which is part of the 23 acres occupied by the hospital.

Mr Norman Kiwanuka, a family member, said they are in the process of opening boundaries on the disputed land.

“Court has already given us a green light to open boundaries and we are likely to start in two weeks’ time. The reason why we want to open the boundaries is because Mehta Group of Companies claims that the land is a freehold, which is actually not true. The documents in our possession indicate that it is mailo land,” Mr
Kiwanuka said during an interview with at the weekend.

He also said they do not intend to evict the hospital, but simply want compensation from government.

“We have been in touch with the hospital management and they know that we are the rightful owners of the land. When they were carrying out renovations, we gave them a go ahead because the donors wanted to withdraw the funds,” he said.

According to Mr Kiwanuka, by 1900, the initial owner of the land was the late Mr Banalaba Owekisa. It was later inherited by Mr Isaac Kyagulanyi, who leased the land to Mehta Group of Companies.

When the lease expired, Mr Kiwanuka claims that the land reverted to the family and the current administrators are Mr Ibrahim Kyagulanyi and Mr Muhammad Yawe, the grandchildren of late Banalaba.

However, Mr Ronny Kyazze, the head of legal affairs at Mehta Group of Companies, said the company rightfully acquired the land.

“They are not the first people to make such claims [of owning Kawolo Hospital land]. In this latest case, we have agreed that we open boundaries because we have a land title and they also claim to own one. We want to find out whether it is the same land they are talking about,” he said.

Mr Mathias Kigongo, the Buikwe District chairperson, said the hospital land was donated to the district by Mehta Group of Companies.

“We thought the land belongs to the Mehta Group, but there is a family which also claims it. As district leaders, we are yet to bring both parties together to see how to resolve the matter without necessarily affecting the hospital operations,” Mr Kigongo said.

He also said they also recently learnt that the hospital has no land title which exposes it to encroachers. Mr Haruna Wamala, the Kawolo Hospital administrator, said the Ministry of Health is ready to pay for the land where the hospital is located if it turns out that it is privately owned.

“Government will compensate the family if it is proved that they own the land. But if Mehta emerges as the winner, we shall continue with the good working relationship we have enjoyed over the years,” Mr Wamala said.

ABOUT KAWOLO

Kawolo Hospital was built in 1968 as a public health facility. The facility, which recently got a Shs11.8b facelift, is located on the accident prone Jinja-Kampala highway and receives more than five accident victims daily.

It serves more than 1.3 million people around Buikwe, Buvuma and Mukono districts annually.

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