Govt surrenders CID land in Kibuli to investors

NATIONAL | The government has surrendered more than five acres of land belonging to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Kibuli, a city suburb.

The land on Block 15, Kibuga County Plot 31-49 along Kibuli-Mukwano Road in Kampala, was valued at Shs25 billion five years ago when Tisha Investments Ltd dragged the government to court over its leasehold.

The investors have swallowed up the Kibuli Police playground as well as office buildings adjacent it.

In a May 2 no-objection letter, Internal Affairs minister Kahinda Otafiire was brief and feeble, with the tone of a rape victim who has given up kicking.

The minister submitted to the investors that Uganda Police had shelved their handcuffs and folded their arms.

"Following the intervention of the Minister of State, Ministry of Internal Affairs, I also affirm that this matter was handled irregularly," Gen Otafiire said in the letter that also announced a renewal of leasehold by Uganda Land Commission.

"Therefore, we have no objection to your taking possession of the said land since we have no legal claim."

Tisha Investments, whose online information says is managed by James Saul Byaruhanga, in June 2019 dragged the government to court the land, leaving then Inspector General Police Martins Okoth-Ochola vowing to crush the plot to grab the institution's land.

In a civil suit number 489 before the Land Division of the High Court, Tisha Investments demanded that the Uganda Land Commission and Attorney General step aside and allow it the right to lessee.

Besides Mr Byaruhanga, the local investment firm is said to be jointly owned by a group of powerful claimants such as retired UPDF General Gyagenda Kibirango and Stephen Kashaka, former urban development state minister Urban Tibamanya, and Rwampara county MP Charles Ngabirano.

The meek surrender from General Otafiire who gained fame in mid-2000s for his stance against land grabbers and wetland encroachers is telling.

But for many who have been around long enough to have heard "in 1986" more than 1,986 times, the giveaway of Ntinda Road Police ground to a car bond and wanton giveaway of swathes of Kibuli and Nsambya Police lands gives a reminder that Tisha's move was bound to succeed.

Chunks of land belonging to Uganda Police in Nsambya and Kibuli locales were give away to investors between 2000 and the first half of the last decade.

At some point, the entire Nsambya and Kibuli police headquarters were in the briefcase of investor - although they somewhat remained standing.

When Tisha Investments sued in 2019, their five-year lease issued in 2014 by the Uganda Land Commission was expiring.

The firm told the court that then police director of Engineering and Logistics, Godfrey Bangirana, had frustrated their efforts to develop it.

It also demanded a lease extension for 49 years as envisaged in the lease offer.

The Police have ignored several requests to comment on the new development while the Nile Post has contacted the Uganda Land Commission on whether Tisha Investment had secured the 49-year leasehold as they had demanded.