Your Excellency the President,
The allocation of prime parcels of public land in Kampala City to private investors, has affected many institutions including Uganda Broadcasting Corporation headquarters; Shimoni Demonstration School; Kitante Courts/Chief of Military Intelligence headquarters; Butabika Hospital; Luzira Prison Farm; Nsambya Police Headquarters and Training School; and more recently Kitante Primary School. Each allocation has cut deep into the hearts of all those who place value on the significance of historical sites in the nation's capital.
The economic arguments made by government officials and yourself in support of increased investment which will ultimately bring employment, have completely disregarded the equally important arguments of social, historical and sentimental value that residents of Kampala, past and present, attach to the affected buildings and land. Failure to consult key stake holders in the process of land allocation has caused a lot of distress to Ugandans at home and abroad.
In the case of schools, the parents of Kitante Primary School have made a strong argument that is key to implementing government's policy of Universal Primary Education. They state that the success of UPE and eventually that of Universal Secondary Education depends on government schools having good structures in place. Your Excellency, it is a direct affront to government's UPE policy when students have to pay fees to build a fence around their school in order to keep land grabbing investors out.
Accordingly, we the students, friends, parents, and alumni of Kitante Primary School request that your good office intervenes to:
1. Halt or reverse and decision to apportion land belonging to Kitante Primary School.
2. Require government officials to adopt a consistent policy of consulting all stakeholders before apportioning public land to private investors so as to ensure that all legitimate interests are taken into consideration before allocating land.
Such is our humble prayer.
