The family of the late John Lule through Ntende, Owor and company advocates has asked Nkokonjeru town council to vacate their land hosting the taxi park and main market for alleged failure to pay ground rent.
Led by Edward Lule, the family members claim that the town council leased the land hosting the market from their father in 2006 on condition that they will pay Shillings 300,000 monthly in ground rent.
However, they claim that records show that they only paid for the months of January, February and March, saying the ground rent has now accumulated to Shillings 54 million. They also accuse the town council of illegally setting up a taxi park on their family land without any written agreement from the landlord.
According to Lule, their efforts to remind the town council authorities about their obligations fell on deaf ears. He says that to their surprise they came across another agreement signed by the town council purporting to buy their land.
Ronald Kawuma, the Nkokonjeru Town Clerk, says the town council leased the land for a period of 99 years since 2006 and there is no way they can vacate it. He acknowledges anomalies on their side, saying that they try to explore avenues of resolving the problem.
Kawuma says once the town council loses the land, it will be headed for congestion in the central business district since taxis will be forced to operate on the roadside. He says that the town council is struggling to generate funds for the construction of a new market and new park.
The town council injected more than Shillings 200million in the construction of the current Nkokonjeru market where it collects more than Shillings 20million annually. Moreen Bukirwa, one of the vendors, says they are worried about possible eviction by the landowners unless something is done.
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