Jinja leaders meeting with the Speaker
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has directed the Town Clerk of Jinja Municipality to carry out a valuation of the land around the source of the River Nile. The Speaker issued the directive while meeting politicians and a technical team from Jinja Municipality on the delayed re-development of the area around the source of the Nile. Kadaga said that the Source of the Nile was gazetted as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and there is need to have it developed into a better tourism site.
“We need to chart a way forward for Busoga tourism and one way is to develop that area so that it attracts more tourists,” she said.
Kadaga revealed that she had asked the Catholic Church to let the Pope visit the Source of the Nile but it was not up to the standard needed. “I spoke to the Catholic Church to let the Pope lead mass there but we don’t have the necessary facilities and so I was left in the dark,” she revealed.
Jinja Municipality West MP, Hon. Moses Balyeku, said that part of the land was allocated to developers who have since failed to do any work. He called on the technical team in the Municipality to carry out a valuation of the land.
“There is need to compensate people who have settled on the land around the Nile but this is only possible after a Government Valuer has surveyed and valued the land,” Balyeku explained.
Hon. Edward Baliddawa (Kigulu North), who is the brainchild behind the Busoga Tourism Initiative, revealed that a Chinese delegation visited the site with the view of funding the redevelopment but there was a dispute over ownership of part of the land. Baliddawa blamed the Town Clerk for failure to address the hitches adding that the officials are only interested in the gate collections, which they never declare.
The Deputy Town Clerk Jinja Municipal Council, Jofram Waidhuuba, pledged to write to the Government Valuer and have the land valued within seven days.