Henry H. Ssali
2 March 2008
Kampala — Two weeks ago, vendors in Kisekka Market were up in arms over the sale of the market to a private developer, Rhino Investments Limited owned by retired Col. John Mugyenyi.
The company was granted a 49 lease to develop 2 acres of the 3.7 acres of the market land. Despite the vendors' protests Kampala Mayor Nasser Ssebagala was quoted in the press saying that the market was handed over to Rhino investments with the consent of the traders and that those who were protesting were the vendors who had turned the market into a den of thieves.
Col. Mugyenyi was quoted saying that the vendors who were protesting were doing so basing on wrong information. "I am not going to build a church or sleep in Kisekka Market. I am going to build a modern shopping mall, which will help the vendors. But if the vendors don't want Rhino Investments Ltd as a partner, I am ready to leave so long as they refund my full dues and interest. I am not dying to invest in Kisekka. I can go elsewhere," he said. He wants to inject Shs13bn together with 680 vendors to develop the market into a six-storey shopping mall.
Col. Mugyenyi has hitherto been relatively unknown in the public circles but he is said to be among the richest Ugandans. The veteran soldier retired in 2006 after serving 27 years in the army. He joined in 1979 as part of the liberation forces, which ousted dictator Idi Amin.
He served in different positions including director of personnel, director of operations in the army commander's office, director of Procument and the first commander of the joint anti-terrorism task force in the late 90s.
Incognito
Those who know Col. Mugyenyi say he loves being incognito. Perhaps he developed this habit while doing intelligence work. Borrowing from his intelligence lessons, he has managed to remain one of the richest men in this country 'under cover'.
A story is told of how he went to rent out one of his properties in Nakesero and arrived on a bicycle. The people who wanted to rent the building informed him that they were waiting for Col. Mugyenyi and when he said he was the man they were looking for, they couldn't believe it.
As if the bicycle he was riding wasn't humble enough for anyone to claim that he owned the multi-million property, the man was wearing shorts! It was only when his driver later picked him in a sleek Mercedes Benz that the would-be tenants realised that the man they had been undermining was their future landlord.
Don't let his bicycle riding fool you, the man has a love relationship with cars. Col. Mugyenyi proves that men are just big boys and that as they grow bigger, their toys also grow bigger - what with the fleet of vehicles including several Mercedes Benz models including a bullet proof Cross Country, a CL 600 and Range Rovers that he owns.
He was the first Ugandan to own a Hummer, a car that is still a head turner up to today, something he has outgrown. And he has had this hobby of collecting cars for almost three decades. By 1981, Mugyenyi was living in an upscale neighborhood on Kitante hill and was a neighbour to the then local government Permanent Secretary, Gasasira - the father to the Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura.
When the PS died, people mistakenly went to Mugyenyi's home thinking that it was the deceased PS's home because of the number of cars parked at his home. They thought that these cars belonged to people who had come to comfort the bereaving family only to realise that they belonged to Mugyenyi. It was reported in the press that during his visit to minister to Uganda last year, Pastor Benny Hinn used a Range Rover belonging to Col. Mugyenyi.
A website run by Ugandans living in London, ukversion.co.uk, states that he is richer than the more flashy Michael Ezra who has put up several shows of ostentatiousness. His riches are stacked in real estate and he owns several properties in Mbuya, Naguru, Kololo, Mbuya and Bugolobi. He also owns several farms, in his home area of Ibanda plus Nakasongola, Mubende, Kiboga and Mbarara.
Those who know him say the colonel is always telling them that unlike other Ugandans who have amassed wealth in this regime he was born in a rich family. He says that while Uganda was still an agricultural economy, his family was supplying meat to the whole of Kampala through meat packers from the family farm in Ibanda.
He is said to have made a fortune when he diversified into real estate, using the money he earned from selling cows to buy properties.
By the early 80s he owned properties in the city's affluent suburbs and he is said to have hit a jackpot in 1987 when the Catholic church bought his property that neighboured the Rubaga church at $72,000, which was a hefty sum then as the Ugandan currency had just been devalued. He is said to have bought several houses around town at just $3,000 (their value then) each that saw the start of his real estate company.
Just like Michael Ezra who doesn't give interviews but lets money speak for him with such acts as giving blank cheques, Col. Mugyenyi is not one to give a press interview but also gives out money in ways that leave people awed. He is said to have given his son in law Shs200m when he married his daughter.
One John Bosco Musoke wrote to the press recently during the market wrangles describing Col. Mugyenyi as a good man because he had paid his school fees. Musoke narrated that he and four others students were chased from school for lack of fees from Kitante Hill School. But when they were going home, they saw the man riding a bicycle behind them and he asked why they were going home when it was not yet time to.
They told him they had been chased because of fees. He went with them back to the headmistress's office and asked her whether it was the reason for which she confirmed. Then he asked her whether they were disciplined and she confirmed that three of the pack were while the other two weren't. He paid all the dues for the three disciplined including Musoke.
As a neighbour of Kitante, former students say he is said to have had a love relationship with the school including tarmacing the road to the school, and that he one time, fed the school after students threatened to go on strike.
He is said to have educated more than 50 Ugandans whose parents he didn't even know. If he hadn't gained interest in kisekka market, many Ugandans would never have known about this man.
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