The government of Uganda has set in motion a process to recover at least 100 Departed Asian property repossessed by former owners despite government having paid compensation for them.
A sub-committee of the Committee on Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) of the 10th Parliament had directed government to recover the property and prosecute those who aided their fraudulent transfer.
But the Finance Ministry’s notices of reclaiming 100 assets and cancelling 600 titles of the Departed Asians property have since sparked off a standoff between the Finance Ministry, the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB) on the one hand, and the Solicitor General and Attorney General on the other, with the latter saying DAPCB and the Finance ministry have no powers to cancel certificates of repossession they had previously issued.
But Finance minister Matia Kasaija insists: “The law is taking its course. That is what I can say for now. I cannot reveal more than that.”
Mr Kasaija’s declaration comes three months after a Cosase sub-committee of the 10th Parliament released a report on its two-year investigation into DAPCB operations.
DAPCB was formed to manage the property of Asian and British protected persons expelled from Uganda in August 1972 by President Idi Amin.
President Amin gave the Asians 90 days to quit Uganda after he declared what he called an economic war. He accused the Asians of “milking a cow without feeding it” and famously declared that he was “giving Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans.”
The Cosase sub-committee was instituted to investigate, among other things, allegations that some of the property for which the government had compensated their former owners were repossessed by those who had been compensated.
The 83-page report, which was released late April, reveals that the government had as of December 31, 2005, paid out compensation amounting to Shs1.7b to some 119 former owners. But the report also says some of the property are now in the hands of some wealthy business people in town.
“The committee noted that some property formerly compensated by the government had ended up in the hands of unscrupulous individuals, who had later transferred the same to bona fide purchasers for value without notice,” the report states in part.
The committee recommended that government moves to recover such property and prosecute those who aided their fraudulent transfer.
“Those who are found to have fraudulently reclaimed property for which they had already been compensated should lose the property but should be prosecuted subject to the direction of the Director of Public Prosecutions on the matter,” the report recommends.
The payouts
The report notes that in 1976, the government paid out Shs13.4 million to the government of India as compensation for assets that had been left behind by Indian citizens.
The same report indicates that another batch of former property owners, mostly people of undetermined nationality, were reportedly paid out at least Shs40.4 million through the global refugee agency United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), following a meeting on July 21, 1977, between government and UNHCR officials.
The meeting agreed on valuation for buildings that were five years old or less at the time of the expulsion would be valued and compensation paid out at the 1972 market value.
The report indicates that despite the payouts, at least 100 property had been reclaimed by their former owners or their agents. It recommended the cancellation of repossession certificates of such buildings, prosecution of those who had taken possession of them and the reversion of such property into the hands of the government.
DAPCB, minister cagey
It is not clear whether it was in line with this recommendation that the process to recover the property has been initiated as it was not possible to talk to the DAPCB executive secretary, Mr George William Bizibu. He neither picked up our calls nor responded to our text messages by press time.
Finance minister Matia Kasaija was also cagey. “I have read the Cosase report from page three, and I know the contents very well, but I cannot tell you more than what I have already said. The law is taking its course,” Mr Kasaija told Sunday Monitor.
Sunday Monitor has, however, learnt from sources close to the minister that the decision to swing into action followed a decision by the ministry to adopt the recommendations of the report after it was adopted by the 10th Parliament.
The processes, our sources in the Finance ministry say, has been ongoing and involves evaluating the circumstances under which each of the property were repossessed. The sources also said some of those who repossessed the property have been notified of the move to repossess them by DAPCB and the Finance Ministry.
Questionable repossessions; the loopholes
The Cosase report says whereas the Expropriated Properties Act (EPA), which transferred the property and businesses that had been taken over by the Amin government to either return them to their former owners or sell them off, provided that a claimant was physically present before a property could be returned to its former owner. At least 637 property were repossessed without fulfilling that requirement.
The report indicated that 285 of the 637 were repossessed by Ms Unia Ssebaggala, 119 by Mr Mohamed Allibhai and 53 by Ms Mumtaz Kassam. The report says the others were repossessed by Minex Karia, who took 46, Praful Patel, who took 50, Praful Chandra, who repossessed 18, and N. K Radia, who repossessed 66 of such properties.
“All repossessions whose former owners didn’t physically return to manage the property as required by law should be cancelled or revoked for being null and void… The minister should invoke his/her powers under Section 9(1) of the EPA to make an order to either retain such properties as government or the same be disposed of in a manner prescribed by Regulation 11 of the Expropriated Properties (Repossession and Disposal)..” the committee recommends.
Property list:
Plot 66 William St 1/2 share Kampala
Plot 10 Solomon Rise Bugolobi Kampala
Plot Mugurusi Rd, Fort Portal
Plot 16A Rashid St Fort Portal
Plot 70 Gweri Rd Soroti (1/2 Share) Soroti
Plot 18 Mugurusi Rd, Fortportal Fort Portal
Plot 6 Princess Drive Bugolobi Kla (1/2 share) Kampala
Plot 7 Kanjokya St Kolololo K’la Kampala
Plot 3 Kla id (1/2 Share) Kampala
Plot 3 Kampala Road Kampala
Plot 45 Lake Drive Nakawa Port Bell Kampala
Floor Mill Store & Jaggery Factory Kamuli
Plot 17 Kisingiri Mengo Kampala
Plot 14/A 3rd St Kampala
Plot 9 Mbuya Rd Bugolobi Kampala
Plot 16 B OId K’la Rd 9(1/2 share) Kampala
Plot 7 Solomon Rise Bugolobi Kampala
Plot 11 Kololo Hill Drive Kampala
Plot 7 Wilson Road Jagger Factory Kampala
Masindi Post Masi
Plot 28 Mackenzie Val Kampala
Plot 3 School Drive Mbale
Plot 34 Madhvani Road Jinja
Plot 20A Bahiha Road Fort Portal
Plot 523 Muyenga Tank Hill Kampala
Plot 29 Costantono Robo Mbarara
Plot 25 Nasser Road (1/2 share) Kampala
Plot 8 Nabikva Lane Mbale
Plot 18 Mugurusi Road Fort Portal
Plot 80 Buwalasi View Mbale
Plot 5 Kutch Road East Jinja( 1/3share) Jinja
Plot 13 Lwakako Lane, Mbale Mbale
Plot 70-7 Nakivubo Road (1/3share) Kampala
Plot 29 Mai gliei tia Road Kasese
Plot 9 Perymari Gardens Kampala Kampala
Plot 7 Princess Anne Drive Kampala Kampala
Plot 15/17 Kumi Road (1/2 Share) Mbale
Plot 50 High Street Mbarara
Plot 16B Old Kampala Road Kampala
Plot 23 Maragarita Road Fort Portal
Plot 59,61,63,Nkokonjelu (1/3 Shate) Mbale
Plot 26 Tufnel Drive Kampala
Plot 11 Lwakaka Lane (50%) Mbale
Plot 74 Kira Road Kampala Kampala
Plot 1 Soroti Avenue Soroti Soroti
Plot 2 Manafwa Road Mbale
Plot 10 Cementry Road Soroti
Plot 38-44 School Road Arua
Plot 27/29 Kumi Road Mbale
Plot 10 Nakaseio Road (1/2 Share) Kampala
Plot 18 Lower Kololo Terrace Kampala
Plot 56 Kiboga Road Fort Portal
Plot 2 Manafwa Road (/3 Share) Mbale
Plot 2 Manafwa Road (1/3 Share) Mbale
Plot 19 Nakasero Road (1/4 Share) Kampala
Plot 459-461 Tankhill (1/2 Share) Kampala
Plot 88 Nile Avenue Jinja Jinja
Plot 40 Madhvani Road Jinja
Plot 38 Madhvani Road Jinja
Plot 12/14 Mill Lane Fort Portal
Plot 32-34 High Street Mbarara
Plot 14 Nkokonjeru Court Mbale
Plot 6 Entebbe Road Kampala Kampala
Plot 32-34 High Street Mbarara
Plot 4 Bandali Rise Bugolobi Kampala
Plot 68/70 Kira Road Kampala
Plot 3 Ruhara Road Mbarara
Plot 5 Ruhara Road Mbarara
Plot 7 86 1 Ruhara Road Mbarara
Plot 11 Andrea Olal Road Gulu
Plot 9 School Road Mbale
Plot 11 Lobobo Lane Mbale
Plot 17 Mbaguta Street Mbarara
Plot 54-56 Mbaguta Street Mbarara
Plot 15, 16, 17, 1st Street Kampala
Plot 13 Malana Lane Mbale
Plot 21 School Road (1/2 Share) Tororo
Plot 20 Bazara Road Tororo
Plot 48 Mackinon Road (1/2 Share) Kampala
Plot 66 William Street Kampala
Plot 6 Entebbe Road Kampala
Plot 3 Kampala Road Kampala
Plot 3 Kampala Road Kampala
Plot 3 Kampala Road (1/2 Share) Kampala
Plot 9 Mbuya Road Bugolobi Kampala
Plot 1 Dewinton Road Kampala
Plot 9 Dewinton Road Kampala
Plot 32 Gweri Soroti
Plot 1 Dewmton Road Kisenyi Kampala
Plot 32 Gweri Soroti