Patrick Jaramogi
6 September 2008
Kampala — Police on Friday fought running battles with rioting vehicle mechanics involved in a property dispute with National Housing and Construction Corporation along Seventh street industrial area.
The over 100 mechanics from United Engineering Services Limited were protesting the forceful eviction conducted by Speedway Auctioneers.
They blocked a section of Seventh Street for several hours, causing a heavy traffic jam along the street that houses leading fuel depots like Caltex and Shell.
Police was prompted to fire in the air to have the blockade composed of old tyres, metallic units and blocks removed.
Yosefu Kityo the managing director of United Engineering Services Limited said the chaos emerged after National Housing and Construction Corporation (NHCC) issued a letter ordering them to vacate plot 1 Seventh Street in 21 days.
"We have been hiring this premise for the last 10 years from Ministry of Works but were shocked to get a letter from NHCC ordering us to leave. They wrote saying they had got the land from Uganda Land Commission," said Kityo.
"The next thing we got was a letter from Speedway Auctioneers ordering us to leave in 14 days. They came with Saracen guards and locked our premises. We have over 200 vehicles, including government cars where do we take them," he wondered.
The ministry of works in a letter to the Uganda Lands Commission called for the delayed eviction. "It is unfortunate that the Land Commission didn't notify as required and we appealing that the eviction stays until this is sorted out," stated the letter signed by Alex Kakooza.
NHCC who claim to have got the title for the land declined to comment when contacted.
'The matter is being handled by our lawyers and court bailiffs," said an official who declined to be named.
An official with Speedway auctioneers said they had sought court orders to evict the mechanics. Police was by press time still deployed to contain the situation.
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