Land Board member sues Lord Mayor for illegal termination

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Farouq Ntege, a former member of the Kampala District Land Board has dragged the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago to court for illegally terminating him from his job.

Through his lawyers of Nabukenya, Mularira and Company Advocates, Ntege is seeking interim orders from the Civil Division of High Court stopping the Lord Mayor from terminating his appointment to the land board or forcing him to reapply for the job, which he has since been declared vacant.

Ntege contends that he has been a member of the Kampala District Land Board, a Constitutional Body established to look after the public land in the city with a valid tenure expiring on February, 1st, 2021. He however, says Lukwago wrote to him threatening to terminate his tenure.

In an August 12, 2019 letter seen by URN, Lukwago wrote to Ntege informing him about his illegal membership on the Kampala District Land Board. He explained that the KCCA Public Accounts Committee (CCPAC) presented a December, 13th, 2018 report, which raised a number of issues concerning the functioning of the board.

Lukwago explained that he tabled the report before the Authority for guidance and on the way forward as provided for under the KCCA act. According to Lukwago, the authority council adopted the report and recommended that it be committed to the Internal Audit Standing Committee for recommendations on the concrete and specific actions to be taken.

“They were further required to summon and interface with all the relevant officials and agencies including the members of the land board,” wrote Lukwago.  According to Lukwago, the Internal Audit Standing Committee issued a report on August 7th, 2019 highlighting glaring lapses in the operations of the Board, which were largely attributed to the unharmonised tenure of the six board members including Ntege.

Others are Nasser Bassajja, Moses Kabega, Moses Kamoga, Vivian Kiggundu and the Board Chairperson, Yusuf Nsibambi whose tenures are supposed to expire in 2020.  Lukwago also notes that Ntege’s membership on the board was irregularly renewed on February, 4th, 2016 since there was no Authority or Council Minute or instrument recommending him for the purported reappointment.

Lukwago asked Ntege to submit a formal application to the Lord Mayor’s office before August 20th, 2019 in case he is interested in regularizing his appointment.  It is against this background that Ntege is seeking for an injunction on grounds that he is likely to suffer a lot of hardship if at all his application is not granted.

Ntege was appointed as a member of the Kampala District Land Board in February 2016 by the then Minister for Presidency and KCCA, Frank Tumwebaze for a five year term. His application is fixed for hearing later today before Justice, Musa Ssekaana.

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URN