Al Mahdi Ssenkabirwa
6 November 2009
The failure by the leadership of Mulago Referral Hospital to speed up the acquisition of a land title has given a leeway to encroachers to people to encroach on the land.
A source in the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) that preferred anonymity, in order to speak freely on the matter, told Daily Monitor yesterday that the commission has for the last four years advised the hospital authorities to get a general land title but they have been reluctant.
The 92-year old hospital sits on a 60-acre piece of land which houses numerous departments and institutes. However, according to Ms Alison Kantarama, the Mulago Hospital assistant commissioner for support services, some piece of the hospital land is still untitled since it is occupied by encroachers who need to be compensated.
"We want to survey all our land but we have been hindered by the little money we get yet we need to compensate some of the current occupants on the land," she said in an interview on Wednesday.
Asked whether the hospital had a land title, Ms Kantarama declined to comment, saying all the hospital land problems were being handled by ULC.
In an October 1, 2009 letter, ULC Chairman, Mr Jehoash Mayanja Nkangi asked the hospital authorities to submit all their deed plans to his office to process a land title.
"The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the progress of our enquiries and also request you to present the deed plans from the surveyors to enable us prepare the respective titles," the letter addressed to Dr Edward Ddumba , the Mulago Hospital director, reads in part.
Mr Nkangi's directive followed complaints from Mulago authorities that some unscrupulous people had taken advantage of some of the untitled land to claim ownership.
This followed claims by Mr Michael Bwengye that he owns plot 61, Block 29. But Ms Kantarama insists that the contested land, measuring a quarter of an acre, belongs to the hospital.
"We bought that land from Ms Yunia Obua and we have all documents supporting our claim," she said
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