Museveni intervenes in row over waste plant land purchase

President Museveni has been forced to intervene following a fight between officials of the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) and some government officials, including members of his Cabinet, over the proposed purchase of land on which to set up a waste management plant for the Kampala Industrial and Business Park in Namanve.

The masterplan of a €220m (approximately Shs910 billion) United Kingdom’s Export Finance-funded Kampala Industrial and Business Park Infrastructure Project, which is being implemented by Lagan-Dott Limited—hired to construct on a design and build contract—provides for allowance of the construction of a solid and liquid waste management plant.

Monitor has established that some government officials have since moved to cash in on the provision by making a pitch for one of the chunks of land on the market. Our sources within both the Cabinet and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) revealed that the group, which includes one of the ministers in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has since last December been pushing the UIA management team to procure a 20-acre piece of land in Senyi, Goma Division in Mukono Municipality at a cost of Shs40 billion. We have, however, learnt that by the time the minister’s group made the pitch, UIA had already entered into negotiations for the purchase of land within easy proximity of Namanve and at a much lower price.

The UIA management team’s insistence on going for the much cheaper option reportedly led to bad blood between the UIA team and the minister’s team. It remains unclear whether it was at the prompting of the management team at UIA, but Mr Museveni has since written to Mr Robert Mukiza, the director general of UIA, informing him that he had received reports that he was “under pressure from unscrupulous people to purchase” very expensive land.

The President urged the UIA boss not to bow to pressure from the minister’s group. The February 5 letter, a copy of which Monitor has seen, makes a case for the cheaper option that UIA had earlier settled for, citing, among other things, its proximity to the industrial park.

“It is good to have such facilities in proximity to the park to maintain good hygiene, within the park and close communities and avoid smell nuisance,” Mr Museveni says.

The President then directs Mr Mukiza to proceed with the procurement of the cheaper land.

“I, therefore, direct you to stand your ground, proceed with the procurement process and purchase (the land), which saves the government Shs31,529,326,000, so that the solid management facility is established,” the letter further reads. In the same letter, Mr Museveni questions the patriotism and extent of greed of the officials who were pushing UIA to go for the expensive option.

“Why would a sane person advocate for the purchase of land that is more expensive by Shs31 billion yet there is one that is Shs9.6 billion, can serve the same purpose and unencumbered? How unpatriotic can one be? Who do these parasites work for?” he wonders.

According to Mr Museveni’s letter, besides being expensive, the Senyi land that UIA was being pushed to procure has no access road, is encumbered by a bank loan and has multiple titles.

Last September, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development released a list of 502 land titles in Mukono that, it said, contained anomalies.

Another 1,308 titles were at the same time lined up for updating during a review process. It was, however, not clear whether the land that the minister had been pushing UIA to procure was part of the affected land.