{UAH} The Observer - Museveni gives firm 3,000 acres, minister says no

http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34318:-museveni-gives-firm-3000-acres-minister-says-no-&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116

The Observer - Museveni gives firm 3,000 acres, minister says no

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Sunday, 12 October 2014 20:49

Written by SADAB KITATTA KAAYA & EDRIS KIGGUNDU

Minister, NARO protest Museveni land give-away

A presidential directive to allocate 3,000 acres of public land to an investor has set four government agencies on a collision course.

Principally, the land in question belongs to the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) at Namulonge in Wakiso district. Our sources told us that President Museveni recently directed Daudi Migereko, the minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, to give this land to an investor who wants to build a tomato-processing plant.

But NARO, the ministries of Lands and Agriculture, and the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) are pulling in different directions over the matter. Our sources told us that Museveni's directive followed reports that so many investors had applied to ULC for the land. But Museveni's directive, already endorsed by ULC, has met stiff resistance from the ministry of Agriculture and from NARO.

Migereko told us last week; Museveni wants the land to be worked on with a view to benefiting majority of the farmers and the population in the country."

He said this necessitated a partnership between government and the private sector. Migereko said government would want an investor, such as a tomato processor because this will benefit farmers who grow the crop. Migereko said the matter had now been forwarded to ULC, under which the Namulonge land falls, for further scrutiny.

But The Observer understands that the minister for Agriculture, Tress Bucyanayandi, is not happy with the way the entire matter has been handled. Our sources told us that in a recent internal meeting with senior staff, Bucyanayandi said giving away the Namulonge land would affect the implementation of NARO's strategic plan.

Bucyanayandi, according to our source, said he was not consulted about the planned give-away and, therefore, would oppose it. He said agricultural research needed vast land to carry out soil, crop and animal-related investigations.

In the same meeting, NARO Director General Ambrose Agona said giving away part of the land was unfortunate because what they have is not enough for their operations.

"We want to start breeding animals to support agribusiness value chain. There is no land to give away," Dr Agona said, according to our sources.
Baguma Isoke, the chairman of ULC, told The Observer on Saturday that the land had not yet been given out.

"Nothing has been concluded yet. We are still assessing," Isoke said.

Isoke added that the president's directive came with guidelines as to which type of investment would be suitable for the land.

"The president wrote guiding that among the investors interested in the land, the tomato grower has a plausible investment plan because it has forward and backward linkages. The neighbouring farming communities can benefit as out-growers feeding this major investment," Isoke said.

He said some of NARO's land had been sold off by unscrupulous people in Wakiso. In October 2013, our source said, former ULC Chairman Jehoash Mayanja-Nkangi nipped in the bud a plot by some people working with the Wakiso land board to sell land belonging to NARO.

Isoke said he was waiting for guidance from Migereko on how to give away the land. Asked whether he would subject the process to an open bidding process, Isoke said government was not mandated to do so.

"If we were to apply that method, all the public land would be taken by the same group of people," he said.

There had been suggestions that government establishes a commercial farm on the land to create jobs. But Isoke said of the suggestion: "The current government policy is that investments should be private-driven. But in the past, we used to have so many commercial state farms across the country. That debate is beyond me." 
ekiggundu@observer.ug 

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The Observer - Museveni gives firm 3,000 acres, minister says no

http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34318:-museveni-gives-firm-3000-acres-minister-says-no-&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116

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