KAMPALA – Parliament’s select committee that has been investigating the controversial repossession of departed Asian’s properties has been allowed to resume its operations by the Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga.
Kadaga had halted the committee’s work in March over coronavirus but in a letter dated June 2, the Speaker said that the select committee, which is comprised of members under the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) is free to resume its work as long as it respects the social distancing guidelines.
“I have noticed that the Sub-counties is planning to interface with the management of DAPCB (Departed Asian’s Properties Custodian Board) and a few selected individuals who have fraudulently engaged in repossession/possession of expropriated properties,” the letter reads in part.
It adds: “As requested, permission is granted to your Sub-committee to meet during recess to handle pending work as mentioned above.”
Before closure, the sub committee was investigating the alleged mismanagement of over 200 properties in Kampala by the Kampala District Landboard (KDLB) and the Commission of Land Registration in the Ministry of Lands.
The Asians properties, which are managed by the Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board, were dubiously converted into freehold or their leases extended by the Kampala Land Board without consulting the property managers.
The properties under probe include those that were redeemed by the government after paying loans on which the propriaters had mortgaged them in banks before expulsion by President Idi Amin in 1972; those that were compensated for in 1976 and those whose owners never returned to repossess by 1993. Such properties reverted to government and are supposed to be under the management of DAPCB
