Kayongo To Museveni: Sorry, Owino Is No Longer Available For Privatization, We Paid Shs4.5bn For It And Even Sealed 99-Year Lease Over Facility

By Isaac Mutema

A few days ago, President Yoweri Museveni instructed Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba to quickly look for the land title of Owino Market and erase the names of Godfrey Nkajja Kayongo from the document.

We captured the executive order in a lengthy write-up titled: Museveni’s Stance and Mafias Long Plot to Grab Owino Market From the Vendors.

Reading between the lines, we highlighted a plot to grab Owino as the Park Yard Market next to Owino was too grabbed for Hamis Segawa Kiggundu.

We noted that, since the government seeks to remove the market from Godfrey Nkajja Kayongo and register it in its own names, the same was going to make it very, very easy in the future for the government to replace Kayongo with another person.

The Lord Mayor, Ssaalongo Erias Lukwago, has since validated our fears by spilling a plot by the government of replacing Kayongo with some Turkish investor!

Lukwago was being hosted at CBS FM radio over the weekend when he dropped the highly guarded info.

Yet, Kayongo isn’t going to lose the market without a fight.

Responding to the President’s directives to cancel his ownership of Owino, Kayongo states that the same will not only end up being declared illegal by the courts but also prove to be a very costly mistake for the government.

“We paid for that market. We parted with a cool Shs4.5bn to secure it,” Kayongo opens up. Not only did the Kayongos pay for the market, he asserts, but also went on and secured from KCCA, a ninety nine lease period over it.

“Mark you, there is, moreover, a subsisting court order blocking KCCA, or anybody else, for that matter, from interfering with our management of the market,” Kayongo highlights.

He dismisses assertions by the Kampala District Land Board’s chief David Balondemu that their management tender has since run out.

He insists that, contrary to Balondemu’s ‘ flawed assertions, not only are they managers of Owino market, but also lease owners of the same for ninety nine years and subject to renewal upon consent from KCCA.

In short, the Kayongos are only waiting for the actual cancellation of their lease and then take on whoever would have done it, legally.