KAMPALA – Kyadondo East lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine could lose his single-storeyed building in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, after the holders of the land title sold the land to a foreign investor.
Bobi Wine, owns Semakokiro Plaza on the land measuring about 26 acres located on Block 213 Plots 20-78. The disputed land also has 393 residents.
And now it has emerged that M/s Pearl Hope Investments, the owner of the disputed land, has sold it to Mr Ulrich Anass Bongo Ngoyi, who is believed to have close ties to the Gabonese President.
“In consideration of $15m (Fifteen million United States Dollars) the vendor agrees to sell and the purchaser agrees to purchase the Leasehold interest which will be converted out of a Mailo interest (measuring about 26 acres of land for a period of 99 years’ renewable on agreed Terms and conditions for another period of 99 years after the expiration of the initial lease,” the agreement of sale of land reads in part.
In the agreement, Bongo, who is represented by M/S EUSTERA INTERNATIONAL FZE, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the landlord have agreed that Kampala Capital City Authority uses 1.5 acres of the land to build a water channel and improve the drainage in the area that is prone to flooding.
“The vendor guarantees that the above mentioned land is free from any encumbrances of whatever form and that it has a valid title over the said plot and in case the vendor’s title is contested in court of law, the vendor will indemnify the purchaser of the purchase price and all incidental expenses and costs thereof at the prevailing commercial rate,” the sale agreement adds.
M/s Pearl Hope Investments is owned by Jane Nanfuka, David Senfuka and Katrika Senfuka, all members of the same family. The trio is also said to own other businesses in the United Arab Emirates.
When contacted on Sunday, Mr Senfuka confirmed the agreement, saying that they own the land and have since agreed to agree to sell it to the investor.
He also insisted that Bobi Wine bought part of the land from children of late Gladys Nanyonga, who was a tenant on the land. He explained that when the artiste was putting up the building, they warned him to stop but he refused.
Mr Senfuka explained that while they will pay off all other squatters on the land, Bobi Wine will not be compensated as he is not squatting on the land and he is instead a trespasser.
In March, M/s Pearl Hope Investments Limited, through their lawyers of Lubega and Company Advocates, notified Bobi Wine and others in separate letters about the planned eviction on the contested land. Bobi Wine’s famed Ssemakokiro Plaza sits on the same land.
The crisis in March was sparked off by a formal complaint by Pearl Hope Investments Limited through Lubega and Company Advocates in a letter dated March 11, notifying Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine and others over land trespass and to respond to the letter within 21 days.
“You went ahead and demolished the old premises thereon. You erected Ssemakokiro Plaza on the land wherein you have your recording studios and other activities. As you may appreciate, you are purely a trespasser on our client’s land, our client on purely humanitarian grounds gives you a notice of 7 days within which you should remove your developments as they constitute a nuisance therein,” the letter reads in part. According to the lawyer, Bobi Wine bought the land from a one Gladys Nanyonga without the consent of the land lord. A copy of the land title of the area seen by this website shows that Musa Musisi as the first registered owner of the land in 1957. He later transferred it to Joseph Kagumba in 1996 before Kasoma Samuel acquired it in 2003 and then Pearl Hope Investments in 2006.
