Moses Nampala
2 October 2008
Kampala — Tororo county MP Geoffrey Ekanya has said the proposed phosphate project at Osukuru hills would be accepted by the community if the developer acquired the land on lease.
"If the government is seeking to sell the land to the developer, then we shall totally disagree," said Ekanya.
He made the remarks on Saturday in an exclusive interview with the press at the fundraising function for Orioyi Catholic Church, Malaba town council in Tororo district.
"Nations the world over have long abandoned the question of outright sale of land to developers and simply lease the land to the developer," said Ekanya.
He urgued that the lease terms would protect the future generation which may reclaim ownership of the land when the lease expired.
Ekanya noted that the developer in the phosphate project was seeking a piece of land that was unnecessarily too big for the project.
"The hills endowed with phosphates cover only two parishes of Osukuru sub-ounty yet the developer wants almost the entire sub-county," said Ekanya.
Nilefos, a firm affiliated to the Madhvani group, expressed interest in exploring the phosphates in the Osukuru hills.
Ekanya said the residents of Osukuru were willing to engage the developer in a legal battle if the current irregularities were not corrected.
The Member of Parliament said he would mobilise legislators in parliament to reject the transaction, if the Government went ahead with the proposed sale of the land to the developer.
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