Land Titles for four investors who benefited in the distribution of the Nakawa-Naguru land have been cancelled by the house.
These beneficiaries include Internal Medicine of Virginia PC (15 acres), Master Links Uganda Ltd (3 acres), Phaneroo Ministries (4 acres) and Arab Oil Supplies and Exploration Ltd (4 acres).
This followed the adoption of Parliament’s Adhoc Committee report, which has been investigating the distribution of 82.05 acres of Nakawa-Naguru land.
One of the terms of reference that was given to the committee by the Speaker, Anita Among was to establish any possible fraudulent activities or flaws committed in the disposal or allocation of land in Nakawa-Naguru Estate.
“An analysis of all the application data reveals that the Uganda Land Commission -ULC ignored its own set parameters especially in the allocation and lease offers to Internal Medicine of Virginia PC, Master Links Uganda Ltd, Phaneroo Ministries and Arab Oil Supplies and Exploration Ltd,” says Dan Kimosho the committee Chairperson.
ULC came up with specific criteria that would be followed by the applicants for the land. The criteria involved proof of legal existence of the company or partnership, particulars of directors, annual audited accounts, experience in handling similar projects, governance of company structures, business plan for the development of the land, proof of tax compliance, proof of source of funding and submission of support documentation for the applications.
Kimosho said that if the criteria had been followed, none of the four entities would have qualified for allocation of land in Naguru and that their respective certificates of titles should be cancelled.
He wondered how Internal Medicine of Virginia PC was allocated land by ULC without interacting with any of its partners or even meeting any set criteria for assessment.
MPs learnt that the company financials to determine its ability to undertake the mooted investment could not be examined because they were a newly formed company. There was no business plan or even tax clearance submitted.
“To make matters worse, despite the Chief Government Valuer assessing 4.5 billion Shillings of Premium and Annual Ground rent at 225 million Shillings, Internal Medicine of Virginia ended up only paying 300,000 Shillings as peppercorn ground rent for 15 acres,” Kimosho reveals.
The Committee concluded that Internal Medicine Virginia, PC is nonexistent and a sham of an investor and that the land allocated to them should be recovered and the lease terminated.
Kimosho adds: “It is the considered view of the committee that such land should have been allocated to genuine developers who can offer the same solution like what was touted as being provided by Internal Medicine of Virginia such as Mediheal Group of Hospitals Ltd; the Committee interacted with them and were found to be credible and with demonstrable experience through their wide network of hospitals in Kenya and Rwanda and Uganda – China friendship Hospital who have requested government for more land for expansion.”
He further explains that Mediheal Group of Hospitals Ltd has a Presidential directive that has not been honoured even when they meet the criteria set by the ULC.
Meanwhile, Parliament upheld certificates of the titles for Anil Damani, Dembe Enterprises, Farkhruddin Properties Ltd, Rudra Hardware and Tools Ltd, Dominion Partners Ltd, Seven Hills, Gash Logistics Ltd, Ntinda Whole Sellers, Dashen Uganda Ltd, Global Paper Products Ltd, Meera Investments, Wash and Wills Country Home Ltd.
Kimosho notes that an analysis of the application data shows that these companies fully complied with the set criteria and qualifies for the allocations.
No Transparency in Land Give Away
According to the committee report, most beneficiaries said that they got information about the availability of land at Naguru estate through brokers who aided them in the application process.
On the other hand, ULC submitted that in order to handle the applications, they issued a notice detailing the requirements which the applicants should submit alongside their applications.
“The ULC never issued an advert for the available public land. In this regard, the committee observed that the ULC acted in a non-transparent manner. It indeed, acted in a manner devoid of integrity expected of a public entity. As a result, entities and individuals who had capacity to develop the land were deprived of the information and knowledge of land availability. The Committee further established that the ULC does not have formal criteria for allocating public land,” reads part of the report.
The Committee also queried that absence of an inventory of the land under the custody of ULC and that it is the applicants who identify government land and bring it to the attention of the Commission.
Speaker, Anita Among gave government two months to take action on the House recommendations and report back with a treasury memorandum.