Jinja RCC, City Council disagree over road passing through old State Lodge

By Nelly Otto

The offices of the Jinja City Resident Commissioner (RCC) and Jinja City Council (JCC) have disagreed over a stretch of road passing through the Old State Lodge situated along Busoga Avenue.

City Hall wanted to open a road at the Old State Lodge building, which RCC Darius Nandinda said was a security installation which requires authorisation from State House before a road is opened near it.

However Jinja city council officials in the company of the area LC1 chairman went ahead to plant mark stones stealthily without notifying the caretakers or any security organ.

This led to the arrest of the area LC1 chairman Twaibu Kawooya who had led officials to re-open the boundary because he could not explain why he didn’t notify the neighbors to the boundaries prior.

We have learnt that the team was led by the JCC Staff Surveyor Robert Kitimbo who was formally assigned by the Deputy City Clerk Peter Mawerere.

However, Kitimbo who is no stranger to land related scandals has since gone into hiding saying he cannot simply hand himself over to be subjected to unnecessary interrogations.

“…I have just been through a lot; I have lost weight, friends, reputation and money because of unfounded allegations and investigations engineered by some malicious elements…” Kitimbo lamented from his undisclosed hideout.

According to City Hall authorities, there was a road connecting Busoga Avenue to Circular Road but has been encroached on by some people over years, something they want to correct. However no one can adequately explain what led to the closing of the road since it’s not physically in existence on top of the fact that neighbors have not requested for it.

“…some residents raised concern that some people have encroached and created plots on the road, even the office of the District Health Officer (DHO) have placed their containers along the road…”, Mawerere said in a phone interview.

Mawerere nevertheless downplayed the arrest saying it was a simple matter caused by miscommunication, adding some officials including the RCC are new in the system and do not have adequate information on some issues.

However, the Deputy RCC in charge of Southern Division Mike Ssegawa is not convinced with the narrative from Town Hall.

“…they always initiate things which appear genuine on papers when in actual sense the main agenda is simply to grab land where they end up creating plots and selling to unsuspecting developers…,”Ssegawa said.

Ssegawa also wonders why Town Hall officials are more interested in the road near the Old State Lodge as if it’s of the most economic interest than all other roads lying in ruins. The road isn’t serving anyone’s interests. No one is asking for it?”

“…Jinja City has many roads in sorry states, some leading to the industrial centres where revenues worth billions are collected, but nobody is talking about them except this one where they think is isolated…,” Ssegawa observed.

In the meantime, SSegawa who is a former journalist, said nothing will take place on the road until the matter is authorised by State House.

“Let City Hall write to President’s office notifying their intentions,” he said.

It should be recalled that a huge part of the Old State Lodge now being guarded by the police had been grabbed by some individuals who sold it to unsuspecting Asians who had started putting up three residential buildings.

The construction was halted after a communication from State House and the fate of the Asians who bought the land remains unclear although the dealers had already swallowed their dimes.

Following the incident, the LC1 Chairman Twaibu Kawoya has vowed never to cooperate with any government agencies or officials because of the embarrassing situation he went through.

“…mine was to accompany the civil servants from Town Hall after showing me their official letter, how could the RCC order my arrest and detention at the police as if I were a chicken thief…”, Kawooya fumed.

His police bond has been extended up to 24 March, 2023 when he is expected to report to CPS Jinja where he faces charges of Criminal Trespass (CT) vide CRB 60/14/03/2023.