Mary Karugaba
8 July 2008
Kampala — THE National Housing and Construction Corporation has offered the Buganda Road flats tenants alternative accommodation to pave way for the re-development of the plot.
The tenants are to be relocated to Namungona, about 5km from the city centre.
According to a June 13 letter, they were required to apply for the new flats from July 1 and the offer ends on July 31.
Led by Tom Ongeso, the tenants told the parliamentary finance committee yesterday that they had declined to relocate because in 2003, the corporation agreed to offer the sitting tenants the first opportunity to buy the flats.
Ongeso, who is also the area LC1 chief, told MPs that the new flats in Namungona were expensive, with each going for sh82m.
Ongeso said over 96 tenants of the Buganda Road flats received circulars from the corporation, indicating that they would be given the opportunity to buy the houses.
"Ever since we received these circulars, we have spent a lot of money on renovating the flats, especially when Kampala City Council was threatening to close them."
"We consider this as an indirect eviction order. We request Parliament to take the matter seriously because we shall be destabilised if it is allowed to go unchecked."
He noted that the Namungona estate was on leasehold land, which belonged to the Buganda kingdom, therefore they risked being evicted.
The tenants' lawyer, Charles Oponya, argued: "We will not be sitting tenants in those imaginary and speculative flats (Namungona)."
The tenants asked Parliament to stop any evictions by the corporation and also order it to give them the first priority to buy their houses.
"We don't want negotiations to partner with the National Housing and Construction Corporation to redevelop the flats. We want to buy them and need protection against any harassment," Ongeso told the committee.
The corporation's chief executive officer, Joseph Kitamirike, dismissed the tenants' allegations that they had given them eviction orders. "We have never directed them to leave."
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