Feature: Tenants Of Nakawa Pushed Out By Luxury Developer

The residents of Nakawa, Uganda, live in uncertainty. Never sure if or when they’ll be forced from their homes by a UK-based development company appointed by their own government. Holly Davis talks directly to her contact and friend from the region...

In 2006 I ventured to Uganda with a group of young people to visit a small town called Nakawa located on the eastern edge of the capital Kampala, approximately 10 kilometres from the busy central business district. Nakawa lives on the main highway between Kampala and Jinja and has grown into a bustling metropolitan area with large industries and some of Uganda’s highest institutions of learning.

Despite the investment and presence of prestigious universities and industries, the people of Nakawa live very much hand to mouth and many survive on less than $1 a day. However, the people who have settled in Nakawa, see it as a refuge from the unrest in the northern part of the country [1].

'Many tenants have been left not knowing from one day to the next when they will be forced out of their homes.'

During my stay, I was working in the local school, which was attached to a feeding project and the local Baptist church, which was the centre point of the community. Leaders of the church and the project at the time expressed their concern for the area, explaining that the land was due to be redeveloped and therefore the church, feeding project and residents would have to look at moving to an alternative area.

Four years later, one of my friends from Uganda visited the UK on a sponsored trip and I asked him about his experiences here and how he feels about returning home. He said he was worried about what he was going back to - will he still be able to return to the district or will he be moved on? He told me that the school and feeding project have both been moved and tenants have started to leave.

Many residents sold their houses in good will for the land to be re-developed and those who could afford it have moved to new areas. However, many tenants have been left not knowing from one day to the next when they will be forced out of their homes.

Although the government’s original intentions were to re-house the 1,750 bona fide tenants, there is concern that many people will not be able to afford the accommodation on offer and that little or no compensation will be offered [2] to those left in Nakawa.

The government had originally allocated the land to UK-based Opec Prime Properties [3] to develop a modern satellite town - composed of flats, maisonettes, executive bungalows and commercial buildings. However, tenants of Nakawa petitioned the Inspector General of Government protesting the sale of the land [4] and development was halted.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Lands allocated part of the Nakawa land to other developers. Alaka and Company Advocates, a law firm representing the tenants of Naguru-Nakawa, has said that Opec Prime are “wasting their time” fighting for the land because it has already been given away. Namely referring to a letter from the President to the Ministry of Lands allocating the land to 10 companies [5] including Allied Bank and The National Lottery. Opec Prime has since sued the government for breach of contract.

“People have lived here for decades but they are now being told to cede their rights to a foreign investor without specific assurances of continuity of their residence, temporary relocation or full compensation.”

Opec Prime was given the land by President Museveni in 2005, but tenants refused to leave when they were asked to vacate the estates. Kampala City Council stopped collecting rents from the houses in 2003, after the council had declared the units dilapidated and unfit for human habitation. My friend and resident of Nakawa tells me “I agree that Nakawa is in need for redevelopment, the question is not if but how”. It appears the President acted on misinformation that there was free land on the Nakawa-Naguru estates and gave-away land that was not available.

The residents have vowed not to leave the estates unless the government and Opec Prime compensates and relocates them, but the company claims it has no obligation to do this.

The parent owners of Opec Prime Properties Uganda Ltd are the Comer Brothers [4] (Brian and Luke Comer). Now based in the tax-haven Monaco [6]. Luke, 51, spends most of his time attending to his property business in London. The pair are worth just short of £50 million [7]. They are due to be handed the land at the end of September 2010 [8] amid tight security.

The President has now agreed to relocate all the tenants, claiming they can buy low-costs flats, which Opec Prime would construct. But I have to ask the question: at what price and at what cost to the community? My friend spoke about how moving such a large group of people at the same time would only reek havoc and dissipate the community to the extent that people would be both physically and emotionally severed from their home.

Anne Mugisha, a lawyer, human rights activist and Special Envoy to the President of the FDC (Forum for Democratic Change in Uganda), has declared her intentions to contest the Nakawa Division constituency [9]. She has returned to Uganda after nine years in exile in the United States and states: “People have lived here for decades but they are now being told to cede their rights to a foreign investor without specific assurances of continuity of their residence, temporary relocation or full compensation.”

I was outraged to find that a UK-registered company were planning to develop an area so irresponsibly. It is easy for them to pass responsibility onto the government, but in a country where 30% live in abject poverty [10] on less than a dollar a day it appears the government have clung onto the hope of investment so tightly that they have done so at the expense of their people.

It also brings in the question of tax justice [11]. Developing countries such as Uganda are thought to lose out on an estimated $160bn every year - more than they get in international aid - because of tax dodging by unscrupulous companies. This money could be paying for services like sanitation, access to water, health and education. Instead, 270m children don't have access to health services and 72m primary-school-aged children aren't getting educated. Find out more about Ctrl Alt Shift's tax justice campaign here [11].

Words and photos: Holly Davis