Parliament gives Mestil Hotel proprietor three days to bring land purchase documents

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has given Janet Kobusingye, the proprietor of Mestil Hotel and Residences up to Monday 14 February next week to present relevant documents to prove ownership of the land where the hotel was constructed.

The 3.6 acre-land that belonged to the Uganda Railways was supposedly compensation to Kobusingye from the Uganda Lands Commission for her land in Naguru, which was taken over by the government.

Kobusingye was appearing before COSASE for the second time, on Wednesday for interrogation on how she acquired the land at Nsambya, a prime city suburb in Kampala.

She is among the 10 private investors the Committee has been investigating on how they possessed the huge chunks of land belonging to the defunct Uganda Railway Corporation.

Rukiga County MP Roland Ndyomugyenyi, tasked Kobusingye to present before the committee the sale and purchase agreement to prove how she acquired the Naguru land. She however said that all the relevant documents relating to the land were destroyed in a fire incident.

Joel Ssenyonyi, the Committee Chairperson and the Nakawa West MP said in the previous meeting, Kobusingye told disclosed that the land in question was given to her for free as part of her compensation for the land she lost in Naguru.

The committee questioned how Kobusingye got Nsambya land worth sh69 billion as compensation for Naguru land worth sh1.5 billion only.

In November 2021, the Committee also probed the Mbarara City North MP Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari, one of the beneficiaries how he possessed three plots of the Railway land. At the time, Rukaari had acquired the three plots in Port Bell and Mulago at 357 Million Shillings.

However, Rukaari shocked the committee when he said that does not remember nor have receipts for the purchase of the said land before his case was referred to the Inspectorate of Government for investigation.

On Thursday, the committee will cross-examine officials of the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to understand more about the Uganda Railways land sale.