UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | The Ugandan Parliament has cancelled the land titles of four investors who benefited from the Nakawa-Naguru land distribution.
Internal Medicine of Virginia PC (15 acres), Master Links Uganda Ltd (3 acres), Phaneroo Ministries (4 acres), and Arab Oil Supplies and Exploration Ltd is among the investors whose land titles were recommended for cancellation (4 acres).
This came after the Adhoc Committee report of Parliament, which looked into the allocation of 82.05 acres of Nakawa-Naguru territory and found several inconsistencies.
One of Speaker Anita Among’s terms of reference for the committee was to investigate any suspected fraudulent acts or defects in the land distribution or allotment of the Nakawa-Naguru Estate.
“An analysis of all the application data reveals that the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) ignored its set parameters, especially in the allocation and lease offers to Internal Medicine of Virginia PC, Master Links Uganda Ltd, Phaneroo Ministries and Arab Oil Supplies and Exploration Ltd,” says Dan Kimosho the Committee Chairperson.
Before January 20, 2022, the allocation procedure was based on three categories: presidential directives, ministerial directives, third-party developers, and residual land for new applications.
The ULC established precise standards that would be followed by land applicants.
- proof of legal existence of the company or partnership;
- particulars of directors;
- annual audited accounts;
- experience in handling similar projects;
- governance of company structures;
- business plan for the development of the land;
- proof of tax compliance;
- proof of source of funding; and submission
- of supporting documentation for the applications.
According to Kimosho, none of the four entities would have qualified for land distribution if the requirements had been followed. As a result, their corresponding title certificates should be revoked.
He was perplexed as to how ULC assigned land to Internal Medicine of Virginia PC without communicating with its partners or even satisfying any stated criterion for evaluation.
Because Internal Medicine of Virginia PC was a freshly constituted company, the MPs learned that the company’s finances could not be investigated to evaluate its capacity to execute the proposed investment. There was no business strategy or even proof of tax clearance.
“To make matters worse, despite the Chief Government Valuer assessing 4.5 billion Shillings of Premium and Annual Ground rent at 225 million Shillings, Internal Medicine of Virginia ended up only paying 300,000 Shillings as ground rent for 15 acres,” Kimosho reveals.
Internal Medicine of Virginia PC is a non-existent and phoney investor, according to the Committee, and the land assigned to them should be reclaimed and the lease annulled.
Kimosho adds: “It is the considered view of the committee that such land should have been allocated to genuine developers who can offer the same solutions like what was touted as being provided by Internal Medicine of Virginia such as Mediheal Group of Hospitals Ltd; the Committee interacted with them and they were found to be credible and with demonstrable experience through their wide network of hospitals in Kenya and Rwanda and Uganda – China friendship Hospital who have requested government for more land for expansion.”
He says Mediheal Group of Hospitals Ltd has a Presidential mandate that has not been followed, although they match the ULC’s standards.
Meanwhile, Anil Damani, Dembe Enterprises, Farkhruddin Properties Ltd, Rudra Hardware and Tools Ltd, Dominion Partners Ltd, Seven Hills, Gash Logistics Ltd, Ntinda Whole Sellers, Dashen Uganda Ltd, Global Paper Products Ltd, Meera Investments, Wash and Wills Country Home Ltd had their land titles upheld by Parliament.
According to Kimosho, a study of the application data reveals that these companies met all the requirements and were eligible for the land allotment.
Land giveaways are not transparent. According to the committee report, most recipients stated they learned about the land availability at Naguru estate through brokers who assisted them with the application process.
ULC, on the other hand, said that to process the applications, they published a notice outlining the prerequisites that applicants needed to include with their applications.
“The ULC never issued an advert for the available public land. In this regard, the committee observed that the ULC acted in a non-transparent manner. It indeed, acted in a manner devoid of integrity expected of a public entity. As a result, entities and individuals who had capacity to develop the land were deprived of the information and knowledge of land availability. The Committee further established that the ULC does not have formal criteria for allocating public land,” reads part of the report.
The Committee also expressed concern about the lack of an inventory of the land in ULC’s possession and the fact that it is the applicants that locate government land and bring it to the Commission’s notice.
Speaker Anita Among gave the government two months to execute the House’s proposals and submit a Treasury memorandum.
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