Sometimes well-connected individuals attain so much power that even senior government functionaries find it expedient to blink first.
Instead of retaking possession of a recently encroached sports facility in the heart of the Arua Municipality, the town clerk, Otim Andrew Kibwota has decided to work on retroactively legalising the act.
The controversial official has stated that the main market in Arua town is soon undergoing reconstruction and thus the vendors need to relocate provisionally to the precious golf club.
Mr Otim in a statement dated 19 December 2016 orders the West Nile golf club chairman to avail an hectare of land on the Arua golf course as an alternative ground where the market can be shifted.
“As you may be aware, government of Uganda secured funding from African Development Bank to construct 11 markets under Markets Agriculture Trade Improvement Programme project 2(MATIP 2) in which Arua main market is one of them,” reads the statement.
“In view of the above, the Municipality has been tasked to locate land for relocating the market vendors to pave way for the construction by 17th January 2017,” it continues.
According to the laid down road-map, the vendors are supposed to be relocated by January 2017.
The chairman Arua main market Vendors Association Nelson Dada says they are worried by the absences of any activity at the previously identified relocation sites.
Sports facilities have recently come under intense encroachment from investors. A big chunk of the Masaka Golf Course has been fenced off by purportedly an investor who reportedly has the blessing of local officials.
Former Uganda Golf Union boss Kiryowa Kiwanuka went online and scolded the move saying it was a pity and the golf club needed to be saved.
In May, lady golfer Grace Obua shocked the country when she revealed that Lira Golf Course which has the longest par 5 hole in the Commonwealth has also been turned into a grazing field and a crossing point for pedestrians.
In 2009, golfers in Kampala also went up in arms with the Nakumatt Oasis Hypermarket complex proprietor Amina Hersi after porters working on her instructions cut down seven 60-year-old trees.
Of all the pitches that once dotted the Lugogo sports hub, only Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) FC Stadium, Kyadondo Rugby Club, the tennis club, hockey pitch and cricket oval are the only ones still standing
In Lira, a stadium named after 1972 Olympics hurdles gold medallist John Akii-Bua (RIP) is no more after it was allocated to a hospital whereas rugby and soccer pitches in Mbale, Gulu, Tororo, Soroti and other parts of the country have been encroached on. Uganda’s biggest multipurpose stadium – Namboole – is also under threat with part of its land already being taken over controversially.
