UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Real estate investors make up the majority of Uganda’s rich and powerful. Although many bystanders doubt the source of money for some of Uganda’s richest real estate muloodis.
Building opulent structures and amassing vast amounts of wealth has thrust many into the spotlight, putting them under scrutiny. While some freely reveal their assets and sources of wealth, Charles Steven Mwasa was one of the individuals whose wealth was recently reviewed by the Inspectorate of Government (IG).
Charles Steven Mwasa is a 45-year-old Mugishu from Mbale, born in November 1977. He is a senior accountant at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, where has worked for 19 years earning USh1.5 million every month. He previously worked as an IFMIS Accountant at the Finance Ministry in 2002.
It was uncovered that Mwasa is perhaps the richest official at the hospital, having made significant investments in both residential and commercial real estate. His vast real estate empire consists of over 26 prime properties in Kampala.
Mwasa lives in a mansion worth about USh800 million in Kiwatule (Block 220 Plots 1942, 1946, & 808). He also has a fleet of high-end automobiles registered in the name of one of his businesses, V1 Investments.
Mwasa’s Vast Real Estate Empire
Mwasa owns swanky apartments, posh hotels and malls in premium Kampala neighbourhoods like Kyambogo, Bugolobi, Banda, Mbalwa, Mbalwa, Bulindo, Kiira, and Mbuya.
For example, he owns an apartment complex in Kyambogo occupied by well-paid Kampala corporates.
He owns a giant hotel-like residence in Kiwatule, consisting of two blocks, each with five stories. But that’s not all. Mwasa has a two-story rental flat in the same neighbourhood that is presently being built.
He owns a rental apartment in Banda neighbourhood.
Mr Mwasa owns two rental properties, one of which is a multi-story structure, in the fast increasing and expanding residential neighbourhood of Mbalwa Namugongo.
In Najjera Trading Center, he is also the sole proprietor of a large retail mall or arcade approaching completion.
Mwasa owns a residential unit in Bugolobi flats, where he earns USh48 million in rent each year, and he also runs a warehouse in Mbale, his hometown.
He has a number of properties in Busamaga, Mutoto, and Flugence in Mbale.
Besides real estate, his wealth comes from diverse sources.
Mwasa (who has full savings accounts with UBA, Barclays, and Equity Banks) has a large estate that includes agricultural fields and other commercial assets.
He owns a large-scale pine plantation in the Kiboga District, which he leases from NFA under the GoU. He earns around USh300 million each year from the Pine business alone.
He is a part-time beneficiary of the Sawlog Production Grant Scheme III (SPGs), a European Union-funded tree-planting programme aiming at greening Uganda.
He also works as a corn farmer.
Pictured below are just a few of the swanky properties belonging to Mulago Hospital accountant Charles Steven Mwasa, aged just 45 years, who has been working (religiously saving his salary and allowances earned in per diem) since 2002 when he was first recruited as the IFMIS accountant in the Ministry of Finance. Images courtesy of Mulengera News.
The Investigation of IGG
Mwasa’s earlier wealth declaration files was recently thoroughly examined by the IGG to gather correct information on his post-declaration acquisitions and additions to his vast estate.
Caroline Wanyanato, IGG’s Principal Inspectorate Officer, validated Mwasa’s earlier disclosures.
Mwasa’s Disclosures
Mwasa stated that he owns Candy Investments Ltd, V1 Investments Ltd, and TK Commercials.
Mwasa previously told IGG investigators that he accumulated all of his estate fortunes by saving from his monthly pay of USh1.5 million and the USh44 million he received in travel allowances each year. He added that he has been careful to keep his allowances whenever he travels overseas on official government duties.
He says that a portion of the fortune was amassed through collaborative investing efforts with his 36-year-old wife, Rebecca Nagidde, a former teacher and mother of his two children. She worked at the Bank of Baroda. In 2007, the couple married. When the joint family estate became so large, his wife opted to focus on full-time administration of the family enterprises.
He told the IGG investigators that his other income stream came from family inheritance, the sale of some inherited properties in Mbale, brick-making, tree planting, consultancy services as an ACPA holder, part-time lecturing, rent, accrued interest on his three savings bank accounts, and brokerage fees.
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