IT IS 15 YEARS SINCE HON. OKULO EPAK DIED, THOUGH HE HAD AN INPUT THROUGH AN ARTICLE “WAY FORWARD ON NAKAWA, NAGURU” THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN THE MONITOR OF DEC. 20, 2003 THE ISSUE OF THE ESTATE IS STILL ON TABLE.
Nakawa - Naguru estate is a piece of land which is 162 acres.
Okulo Epak wrote I quote:
“In urban planning and development, a proposal or scheme of the Nakawa - Naguru scale must have a name, must be subjected to a study as a project, must aim at solving a housing problem, and the plan MUST be subjected to public opinion. “I have not heard of such an approach to these two sites”, wrote Epak.
Epak wrote, “It is true that the Nakawa and Naguru estates are overdue for redevelopment, but in the process, the principles of urban renewal must be considered”.
“Whereas those estates started as middle income residential areas for the upcoming African elite, subsequent development superseded them and planning re - zoned them as low income residential areas. They ought to stay that way until re - zoned for other use and as such, the present tenants would lightly qualify to be beneficiaries”.
“The selection and zoning of Nakawa, Naguru and Namuwongo as low income residential areas was deliberate because of their proximity to places of employment to which the workers would walk”.
“African politicians have a nagging propensity to ignore and underrate past plans and development efforts. Physical planning and development happens to be the greatest victim of this illness”.
From the above background, it is no surprise that the Nakawa - Naguru estate still has outstanding issues.
THE OBSERVER IN A MARCH 8, 2022 PUBLICATION WROTE: “NAKAWA - NAGURU LAND BONANZA MUST END”.
In 2011, more than 1,700 persons were evicted from Nakawa- Naguru estates, which they had occupied for more than 50 years.
They were partly evicted for their safety as the buildings, built by colonialists in 1950 for low-class civil servants, had been condemned as not fit for human habitation in 1994.
But they were also evicted to pave way for the redevelopment of the estate into a satellite town by a UK-based company, OPEC Prime Properties Limited.
The redevelopment was meant to last ten years. The former tenants were to be given priority to purchase the re-developed flats at a subsidized price. The redevelopment project suffered a stillbirth.
That meant that the land reverts to Uganda Land Commission (ULC) to manage it on behalf of Ugandans. The ULC is to hold and manage all land in Uganda legally owned or acquired by Government in accordance with the Constitution of Uganda.
The collapse of the OPEC deal set in motion a land-grabbing bonanza. Several power centres over the control of this land emerged from State House, Ministry of Land and Housing, Kampala City Authority.
Sometimes part of that land was apportioned to ‘investors’ by presidential proclamations or directives. The latest feud between ULC, ministers of Lands Judith Nabakooba, and one of her deputies, Sam Mayanja as to who has a final say in the allocation of the land to the investors, points to something gone amiss!
This land may suffer the same fate as Shimon land where a school and teachers’ college were demolished to pave way for an investor. The land kept switching ownership and no explanation has ever been made about its current status.
The ULC should take control of this land. The point of eviction was to redevelop it into a satellite town. So ULC should re-advertise and call for designs from investors.
The process should be transparent and there is no need for middlemen. Further, if investors fail, Uganda Housing Corporation can be supported to redevelop that land and keep it out of the speculators’ web.
https://observer.ug/viewpoint/72962-nakawa-naguru-land-bonanza-must-end
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