House urges gov’t to cancel illegal leases on Uganda Railways land
KAMPALA– Parliament’s Committee on Commissions Statutory Authority and State Enterprises (COSASE) has advised government to cancel illegal leases on Uganda Railway Corporation (URC) land with immediate effect since the right procedures were not followed in the acquisition of the plots.
Presenting the report of the committee during the plenary yesterday, COSASE Chairperson, Joel Ssenyonyi said that over time, different district land boards in Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, Gulu, Nwoya, and Uganda Land Commission have created illegal leases on URC land.
The MP said that several requests by URC to these land boards to cancel the said illegal leases have been futile and this has made it difficult for URC to recover its land.
He said that URC has written to the bodies and the letters have not been responded to, while some of them have been added as parties to litigation cases involving URC.
“AII illegal leases on URC land should be canceled by the issuing authorities. The officers in the district land boards involved in issuing the illegal leases should be held responsible and URC should come up with clear mechanisms on how to lease its land so that the appropriate value can be ascertained,” he said.
On the newly procured locomotives, the committee found out that four locomotives were purchased in 2021 at Shs 48 billion but since they arrived, they had been parked in the workshop with no work.
“The URC workers interfaced with the committee and revealed that the locomotives were imported without knowing that they were too long for the triangles and not able to turn,” Ssenyonyi’s report reads in part.
The committee also found out that there were irregularities in the procurement process of the locomotives with older locomotives purchased at higher costs and yet a lesser amount could have bought new ones.
“After carrying out a market survey, a URC select committee recommended that the company purchases locomotives which are six years old at Shs 36 billion.
However, locomotives which were eight years old costing shs48 bln were procured,” Ssenyonyi said.
The committee recommended that the Ministry of Works and Transport should take responsibility for failure to follow government policy on the procurement of equipment.
The committee also wants the management of URC that was involved in the procurement held responsible for flouting procurement regulations and the unplanned costs incurred on modifications of railway triangles in Jinja and Tororo and the U-turn in Kampala.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Privatisation, Evelyn Anite said that Shs 69.52 bln that is needed to pay URC for the sale of Nsambya land has not been allocated in the budget for the next financial year due to competing priorities.
This followed reports from URC indicating that since government gave out the Nsambya land to investors, it has never been paid.
The Speaker of Parliament Anita Among asked government to plan and budget for the money since the budget process is ongoing.
The legislators gave government three months to table a treasury memorandum on the Uganda Railway operations.
A Treasury Memorandum is an action report by the Minister or government detailing actions taken on recommendations of parliament.
The COSASE report evacuates from November 2021, committee sitting where a number of beneficiaries failed to prove purchase of 57 acres of Nsambya and Kibuli railway land.
Some of the beneficiaries include; Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari (MP Mbarara City North Division) who acquired 3 plots of the URC land in Portbell and Mulago, Janet Kobusingye the proprietor of Mestil hotel and residence who acquired 3.4 acres of land leased, as well as Gen. David Sejusa who acquired land on plot 73-75, Lake drive.
The report released indicates that the criteria used to classify the assets as core or non-core was not clear.
“Some properties were classified as core while others within the same locality were classified as non-core. For example, Plot 122 block 264 Kyadondo Mutundwe and Plot 27-33 Kyadondo Mutundwe,” reads part of the report.
The committee further noted that only 10 out of 15 properties were advertised, reporting that there is no evidence to show that those which were not advertised were sold through the right procedures.
“There was no evidence of payment for these properties. And there was no evidence of a valuer’s report determining the reserve price,” reads the report.
While disposing of URC properties in districts of Gulu, Masindi, Jinja, and Tororo, the committee observed anomalies whereby certain properties were sold to third parties by sitting tenants who were given first priority that transferred their interest to third parties whose interest could not be regularised by URC.
“It is worth noting that even under Phase II all the non-core assets in Gulu, Masindi, Jinja, and Tororo properties that did not require subdivision were disposed of on an “as is”, “where-is” basis,” reads the committee report.
The Committee also observed that there was no evidence of payment for the above properties and many anomalies in the disposal process, which resulted in several litigations that could cause financial loss to the government.
And from the above findings, the committee recommended that the Inspectorate of Government should investigate the matter and prosecute those found culpable.
“The Officers in the Privatization Unit that handled this process should be held responsible and punitive action taken against them,” reads part of the report.
Arising from a Presidential directive and a Cabinet decision, Nsambya land, formerly owned by URC was transferred to Uganda Land Commission with the assurance that the government would pay URC for this land.
The report further shows that Uganda Land Commission allocated over 40.49 acres of URC Nsambya land to local investors, which was more than 32.35 acres of land that president Museveni had directed to settle a certain matter out of court.
“Despite the fact that the Presidential directive and the Cabinet memo indicated only 32.35 acres to be allocated to the above beneficiaries,72.7A acres was what was allocated bringing an over-allocation of 40.49 acres without authorisation,” reads the report.
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