TOUGH TIMES: A woman and her baby look on as their house is razed in Nakawa Estate yesterday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA 

Kampala
By last night, several families were still stranded after the government began demolition of houses in the Nakawa-Naguru estate to pave way for redevelopment.
At least 100 families were affected in yesterday’s demolition, while an estimated 1,760 families will be homeless when the exercise ends today. A private developer has been given the green light to develop the estates into a satellite city. Day one of the demolition started with heavy deployment of both anti-riot and regular police officers Sunday night.
Several notices, the latest issued in May 2011 and signed by Mr John Kashaka, the permanent secretary of the Local Government ministry, asked the tenants to vacate the premises for redevelopment but it was largely snubbed.
There was panic and a stampede in the area as residents woke up to sounds of bulldozers moving in to raze the buildings. Many rushed to hire trucks and boda bodas to salvage some property that was being buried with rubble. Those unable to hire means just looked on haplessly as their hard-earned property mingled with concrete and rock. “I really don’t know where to take my family from here. We were kept in suspense, some people were telling us to wait for a formal relocation while others said that we wait for a court judgement,” said a crestfallen John Musinguzi, one of the affected tenants.
Another resident, Mr Peter Ochieng, said the memorandum of understanding signed with Kampala City Council does not show the size and the number of rooms that would be allocated to each of them upon completion of the flats.
The eviction which, started from the Naguru estate was overseen by Nakawa City Resident Commissioner Monday Kintu and Kampala Metropolitan Police Director Grace Turyagumanawe. Mr Kintu said tenants living in the two estates were given ample time to vacate the area. “No one will stop this exercise, we shall continue with it to pave way for the redevelopment of the estates,” said Mr Kintu. However, public utilities like church, schools and mosques will remain operating, he said.
Drama
Drama, however, erupted during the eviction when a swarm of bees attacked Mr Turyagumanawe, who was commanding the evictions, and his Force. About 20 policemen and their commander had to scamper for dear lives and abandon the scene for about 15 minutes.
The rush saw Mr Turyagumanawe stumble and fall on the debris. An unidentified TV journalist who captured the moment was, however, attacked by police officers who tried to seize his camera. He was saved by several journalists who came to his aid. Naguru-Nakawa housing estates were constructed in 1950s to accommodate low income government workers but they are now dilapidated and have been declared dangerous for occupancy.
Government condemned the buildings as early as 1993, but tenants refused to evacuate the houses.
The tenants on several occasions blocked the redevelopment of the area demanding that they be compensated before vacating. And yesterday, the tenants insisted that government had no court order to evict them.
Mr Kintu argued that the evicted tenants will be considered after phase I of the construction has been completed. “Every victim will own a housing unit after two years through a mortgage scheme in Housing Finance and pay for it in at least 20-25 years,” Mr Kintu said. Government signed an agreement with Opec Prime Properties Ltd in 2006 to redevelop the area, but the Inspector General of Government stopped the process after a petition by the tenants.
IGG recommendations
In its report, the IGG said government had flouted procurement process and wanted it retendered. The IGG also demanded that government finds alternative accommodation for the tenants. Government, however, ignored the recommendations. According to the government when the project is complete, it will have 1,747 flats, recreation centres and related amenities for low-income earners. The government also points that 30,000 jobs will be created during construction.