The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Jinja Resident District Commissioner Eric Joseph Sakwa is calling for the interdiction of three senior officials in Jinja Municipal Council.
Sakwa says the civil servants should be interdicted and investigated over the land and purchase of government land located on plot 24 B Kyabazinga Way in Nalufenya as well as their roles in the fraudulent sale to an investor Thummar Jay Magnalal Patel for construction of a shopping mall.
The officials are Senior Assistant Town Clerk Alex Kiwanuka and the Chief Finance Officer Masese Division Kirunda Abubaker, alongside members of Jinja district Land Board accused of forging minutes of Jinja district Land Board for the fraudulent land transaction to happen.
Sakwa also named Joy Kawoole, the Jinja Municipal clerk to Council accusing her of conspiring with a section of Jinja Municipal councillors to forge minutes of Jinja Municipal council to indicate approval of the alleged transaction.
He said the council minute was forged to indicate that the council had changed the land user clause of plot 24 B from a public recreation to a shopping Mall. He says Kawoole should account for whoever signed the minute extract on behalf of the speaker of Jinja Municipal Council.
Sakwa was on Tuesday giving evidence to the commission of inquiry into land matters on how the land located on Plot 24 B Kyabazinga Way became registered in the names of Thummar Jay Magnalal Patel, a Ugandan investor of Asian origin against a running lease.
He alleged that the principal personalities implicated for the illegal sale of the public land are MP Moses Grace Balyeku, the Jinja West Municipality Member of Parliament and investor Thummar Jay Magnalal Patel. He claims the duo was assisted by a racket of politicians and civil servants some of whom have testified before the commission.
The Commission of inquiry is investigating the transfer of the land from Jinja Municipal Council to Tirupati Development Uganda Limited for construction of a public recreation park and consequently to investor Thummar Jay Magnalal Patel for construction of a shopping Mall.
The matter was brought to the limelight by a group of whistle-blowers who felt that the development would deprive Jinja Municipality of revenue and the public of services of a recreation Park. Besides, the transfer of the land from public to freehold has since been established to be illegal.
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