NEW TWIST! Bizman Ham in trouble as St. Balikuddembe Shrine land owner resurfaces
By Our Reporter
KAMPALA – City businessman Ham Kigundu is reported to be in hot soup as the owner of St. Balikuddembe Church shrine land has resurfaced.
Having taken over the former Nakivubo playground and Park yard and constructing a multi-billion playground and shops, Ham who seems to be moving to complete his mission of building his business empire along Nakivubo Kafumbe-Mukasa lane may have hit a snag.
Despite what Kampala naysayers have always been saying that the city was sub-divided and shared among different businessmen street by street, in this article we report otherwise.
Putting that aside and in connection with the recent saga between Ham Kigundu and KCCA in the construction of new shops & lockups on the top of a drainage channel that separates Owino market and Ham grounds could be raising new dust that has ‘resurrected’ Omumbejja Specioza Nassuna, the title holder of St. Balikuddembe market land.
As we report the title holder of 7.34 acres of land that covers St. Balikuddembe monument church and the whole of St. Balikuddembe market (Owino) has surfaced.
According to details seen by this publication, the land in question, located at Mengo-Kisenyi, stands on Kibuga Block 12 plot 24.
The estate was formerly under the administration of the late Maliten Mukasa co-administered with Omumbejja Specioza Nassuna who has been in and out of court trying to update the land titles but only to be failed by state mafias.
We have further been told that during the saga to remove the St. Balikuddembe market from the hands of SSLOA which was under the management of Geoffrey Nkajja Kayongo back to the government (KCCA), President Museveni was tipped off on the ownership of the said land.
A highly placed source told us that an arrangement was then made and Omumbejja Nassuna met the President at State House Entebbe.
In the discussion, the President is said to have agreed with the administrator of the estate that the government purchase the land to remain accommodating the vendors of St. Balikuddembe Market who for years have been operating in the market.
We have also learnt that in the same meeting, President Museveni asked Nassuna how much she would charge the government in case her land was to be purchased and she told him something above sh95bn to which the President didn’t object but rather told her to first formalise her land titles and report back for a round table.
Surprisingly, another source told us that no sooner had Nassuna left the State House than mafias approached her to re-bargain to which she reportedly refused. She later learnt that they were State House officials who later told her that she would never see the President again unless she wrote a letter and increased the value of her land to UGX150bn to which she objected saying that at her age she wasn’t willing to make a U-turn in front of Museveni.
In trying to understand this matter, and to which State House officials blocked Nassuna from accessing President Museveni and finalising her land issues, we later learnt that Nassuna was told to cooperate with one of the ladies in the State House known as Nyamahunje but this didn’t bear fruits.
According to our sources, Nyamahunje is a close friend of Kampala Minister Minsa Kabanda and we have also learnt that at one time, the President asked about the update of Owino market land and the duo reported that the person (Nassuna) who was behind it was ‘a mufere’ (con woman) and had died.
Through all this, we have also been told that mafias played all their games behind the back of the President to purchase the land from the said lady (Nassuna) and then sell the same land to the government but the mission still failed.
It is from the same process that the alleged St. Balikuddembe land titles were issued via the Kampala Land Board (KLB). We have also learnt that Nassuna went back to court after that process and sued the government and KCCA because the said land is on mailo land not on public land.
Apparently this is the reason why Kampala businessman Ham Kigundu is using the advantage to grab the land slowly knowing the acrimony of land.
HOW HAM ORCHESTRATED THE DEAL
Sources have told us that immediately after President Museveni inspected and commissioned Nakivubo stadium early this year, Ham Kigundu fought his best to see that it was recognised by FIFA among the playgrounds to host AFCON.
Through this, he obtained all the procedures and guidelines for securing the safety certificate of neighbouring places. This gave him a chance to achieve his mission to access the Catholic shrine land of St. Balikuddembe.
He secretly obtained a re-development and contractual plan from KCCA and then hired his surveyors who surveyed the land, and according to their report, the said land was stretching into the KCCA market land with approximately 50 decimals. From this, Ham reportedly went silent waiting for his next course of action.
Before this, the same drainage channel was harbouring a total of over 500 ghetto youth who were operating their small businesses. Sources have told us that in the same mafia style as it was for Park Yard, the game of removing them started. But these were later reinstated temporarily by former KCCA-ED Dorothy Kisaka.
From our source, Kisaka was also tipped off on the game by Ham Kigundu. We have been told that she also instructed a team of surveyors from KCCA to survey the same land. These surveyors, however, reported that the KCCA land stretches up to the drainage channel and that the channel even belonged to KCCA market land.
We have been told that this hit Kiggundu to the nerves and couldn’t swallow it anymore. This meant that Kisaka was closing into the mafia’s red zone, hence her exit at City Hall subsequently.
Immediately after Kisaka exited City Hall, Ham started his move of evicting the said Ghetto people who were working on the top of the drainage channel. He used some of the Catholic shrine church leaders at St. Balikuddembe monument shrine as a disguise to gain access to the church land.
Using the KCCA enforcement team, all structures were removed and within a couple of weeks, Ham started his construction on top of the drainage channel.
We have been told that even the Catholic Church leaders at St. Balikuddembe monument shrine were surprised to see Ham closing the same drainage channel that they thought was to give them access to their church.
Sources within top Catholic leadership that preferred anonymity said they are currently locked in a dilemma as Ham is proposing to build for them a modern church on the agreement that they give him the foreground and the Church sits on either the 2nd or 3rd floor, but when he asked them their land title they alleged that their titles are kept in the Vatican-Rome.
On the other hand, many business people are said to have also approached Nassuna to sell them the said land at a rate of USD50m.
These, according to sources, want to use the backdoor and negotiate with President Museveni before he embarks on his bid for the 2026 General elections.
BETWEEN THE LINES
- Block 12 Plot 24, Mengo Hill measuring 7.34 acres Church, St. Balikuddembe church shrine is seated on 0.82 acres, St. Balikuddembe market on 6.52.
- This land is Mailo land, not Public land as claimed by KCCA.
- It is owned by the Estate of the Late Maliteni Mukasa, Administrator: Specioza Nassuna.
- This Mailo title was issued on 30th May, 1922 (102 years ago).
- Certified at the time, a copy of the original on 3rd March 1993 by the Ministry of Lands (31 years ago).
VENDORS VOICE
According to another well-placed source, different voices within St. Balikuddembe market vendors, the stalemate has since raised tempers. They alleged that Kampala businessman Ham is forcefully trying to chase them away from the market as he did to park yard vendors. They revealed that even the efforts by KCCA to stop have failed since the same KCCA mafias are working behind his back.
Another source said that with the recent inspection by KCCA Acting Executive Director Frank Nyakana Rusa, who halted the ongoing construction on top of the drainage channel, Ham has since continued his construction.
Vendors also believe that since Nakivubo playground & Park Yard were taken by Ham under the watch of Kampala Metropolitan Minister Minsa Kabanda who was then a city councilor, she still has no powers to stop him again.
They claim she’s the very person behind the donation of the Nakivubo playground as she was the board member of the playground.
Vendors are also said to be worried having seen the new acting KCCA Executive Director who inspected Ham’s construction that had early resulted in the flooding of St. Balikuddembe market which destroyed their property but Rusa did not even convey any sympathy towards them.
They say he only cared more about Ham’s construction than the thousands of people who make a living from the market.
The vendors said that for the many years they have been operating in Owino market, it has been flooding but not at the recent rate.
This publication has also learnt that the vendors have since filed a petition to Parliament through the Clerk. They have also called on the President to intervene or else send the CDF Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba who they believe can put Ham to order.
They added that he (Ham) has a gang group of security guards on his rooftop building who beat whoever complains about the current situation.
Others were heard saying that if things don’t change, President Museveni should not expect any support come 2026 because they have been suffering under his watch.
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