{"id":54271,"date":"2023-08-16T11:04:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T11:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park"},"modified":"2023-08-16T12:50:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T12:50:19","slug":"masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park","title":{"rendered":"Masaka mayor under fire over sale of children\u2019s park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Leaders in Masaka have piled pressure on the mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, to explain circumstances under which a prime piece of public land changed ownership to a private developer.<\/p>\n

The disputed land measuring 2.07 acres (about 0.837 hectares) on Plot 64-74, Elgin Street, was gazetted as a children\u2019s park and vendors have been operating in the place since 2018 until August 11, when they were relocated to the new market.<\/p>\n

But on Saturday night, unknown people fenced off the park with iron sheets.<\/p>\n

This did not go down well with city dwellers who on Sunday morning, with the backing of area legislators Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya \/Kabanera) and Ms Juliet Kakande (Masaka City Woman) stormed the park and attempted to pull down the iron sheets before police dispersed them after firing teargas.<\/p>\n

The land is adjacent to Masaka Secondary School main gate.<\/p>\n

Addressing journalists in Masaka on Monday, Mr Bwanika said Ms Namayanja had embarrassed the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party whose ticket she used to become mayor.<\/p>\n

Almost all current political leaders in Masaka City subscribe to NUP.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Namayanja has come out to defend the irregular sale of the park, this is unfortunate and we apologise to the people of Masaka for giving them a self-centred mayor, we didn\u2019t know,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have written to the city clerk to look at a council minute and resolution that was passed to sell off that land,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to Ms Namayanja, the disputed children\u2019s park land is owned by Ms Sylvia Nagujja Lutta, a member of late Kampala-based businessman Francis Kakumba\u2019s family, who obtained a freehold title on August 17, 2011.<\/p>\n

However, there is also another leasehold title of 99 years acquired by the city on January 1, 1959.<\/p>\n

Pledge<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also going to raise this issue with Parliament\u2019s Committee on Local Government to investigate the matter, on top of petitioning the Inspectorate of Government because we suspect the land was allocated after the issuance of bribes to a section of city leaders,\u201d Mr Bwanika said.<\/p>\n

But Mr Ponsiano Ssenyonga, on behalf of late Kakumba\u2019s family, said they acquired the children\u2019s park legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expressed desire to buy that land and we approached the leadership of Masaka Municipality then and a transaction was done legally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Ms Kakande said they will not sit back and watch when the remaining city properties are irregularly being disposed of. Early this year, it emerged that Masaka City Council had lost more than Shs50b in fraudulent land transactions in the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware that several leases of plots in the city are due to expire and since the council is the sitting tenant, we should take the necessary steps to renew these leases instead of waiting for unscrupulous people to come up and claim that prime land,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mayor speaks out<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists on Monday at her office, Ms Namayanja stated that the children\u2019s park land was sold by previous city leadership and she is ready to support the current owner to develop it for the good of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transaction was done in 2011but I became mayor in May 2021. We have checked with the lands office and we have failed to find a land title belonging to the city,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Kimaanya\/ Kabonera Municipality Mayor Steven Lukyamuzi, who previously served as Masaka Municipal speaker between 2011\u20132016, said it is not true that the disputed piece of land was sold off during his tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the Speaker in 2011 and there is no council minute nor resolution okaying the sale of that specific property to any private developer,<\/p>\n

I am going to drag the city council and developer to court to challenge the process in which that land was disposed of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Background <\/b><\/p>\n

Last year, Masaka City Council learnt that a total of 20 public land titles for properties owned by the city were missing. The city inventory indicates that the affected properties include; Kkumbu playground, Masaka Regional Referral Hospital Mortuary, the newly constructed Masaka Central Market, Katwe Market, Masaka Bus Park, and Mayor\u2019s Chambers.<\/p>\n

Others are; Old Kkumbu Estate, Lions Nursery School, Masaka Public Library, Transit Parking Yard, Kyabakuza Health Centre II, Kimaanya Residential House, Kimaanya Kabonera Sub-county headquarters, Bwala Public Playgrounds, City Yard, Masaka Golf Course and several green belt spaces and plots of land within the central business area.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Leaders in Masaka have piled pressure on the mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, to explain circumstances under which a prime piece of public land changed ownership to a private developer. The disputed land measuring 2.07 acres (about 0.837 hectares) on Plot 64-74, Elgin Street, was gazetted as a children\u2019s park and vendors have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-54271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nMasaka mayor under fire over sale of children\u2019s park - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leaders in Masaka have piled pressure on the mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, to explain circumstances under which a prime ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Masaka mayor under fire over sale of children\u2019s park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leaders in Masaka have piled pressure on the mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, to explain circumstances under which a prime ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-16T11:04:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-16T12:50:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692173683.683376.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Masaka mayor under fire over sale of children\u2019s park\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-16T11:04:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-16T12:50:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\"},\"wordCount\":750,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692173683.683376.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/masaka-mayor-under-fire-over-sale-of-childrens-park\",\"name\":\"Masaka mayor under fire over sale of children\u2019s park - 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