By Mulengera ReportersAn audit report, whose contents are corroborated by KCCA’s own internal documentation, has disputed the circumstances under which the Kamwokya branch of Café Javas and City Tyres (owned by eminent Kampala businessman Omar Mandela) have continued to hold and utilize a significant portion of public land equaling 0.297 hectares. The land is officially documented as Kamwokya Children’s Park, which is supposed to be under management and control of KCCA. The latest GoU audit report, capturing things as of the last week of August, faults the KCCA officials heading the Directorate of Physical Planning and Directorate of Legal Affairs for sleeping on the job and not doing enough to protect public land in Kampala against public encroachment by private developers. Available government documentation indicates that the total acreage of such public land in Kampala (which is supposed to constitute green spaces for free leisure and recreation for the City dwellers) stretches to over 1,000 acres in all the five Kampala Divisions. Yet many of these are susceptible to being seized by land grabbers because KCCA doesn’t have an inventory to know how much it is and the City Authority also doesn’t have clear MoUs with those currently occupying and utilizing such spaces, even in cases where such private developers are identifiable and known. One of the glaring examples the auditors captured is that of Kamwokya Children’s Park, which is on the green open space that lies between Café Javas and the British High Commission. That green space is currently being utilized by Mandela’s Café Javas to host outdoor parties and members of the public, who by law are supposed to use such spaces for free, are charged exorbitant venue fees.The auditors raise a red flag on this and fault the Directors for the relevant KCCA Directorates for not being in a hurry to confront Mandela and at least insist on an effective MoU being in place to formalize the entire relationship and guide on the obligations of the respective parties. The auditors envisage a situation in future when that land ends up being grabbed and thereby exposing KCCA to either property loss or very expensive litigation battles in court. MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM:Yet Mandela’s Kamwokya usage isn’t the only problematic situation relating to Kampala public land which KCCA is, by law, mandated to maintain, secure, manage and control on behalf of the public. The audit report makes reference to many others including the Nakawa Green Space which a private business entity called UAP Old Mutual is continuing to occupy and make use of without existence of any MoU, which is the basic documentation expected to guide on such matters. Because there is no signage or any labeling indicating that this is an open green space which is supposed to provide free recreation for members of the public, the auditors fear that the significant part which UAP isn’t actively utilizing can easily be presumed to be ‘unassignment land’ which rogue-minded developers can easily serve to themselves and title in their names. That failure to put conspicuous signage designating it as public land belonging to KCCA prevents members of the public from knowing that this an open green space which the law entitles them to enjoy and rest or have recreation activities from for free-and thereby defeating the objective of the makers of the law which designated them as such. Indeed, the Nakawa green park is already being encroached upon through supposedly innocent private business activities as was flagged by the auditors in their report. The field visits by the government auditors established that for the case of the children’s park located along Chwa Road near the Mbuya Church, a private developer has already established a washing bay trading as ‘Vintage Car Wash.’ KCCA’s own landscaping supervisors couldn’t produce any documentation authenticating existence of any formal relationship between the Authority and the owner of that car wash facility. Likewise, Ssempiira & Sons Auto Garage was documented by the auditors to be operating on part of the KCCA public land which form a part of the Nakawa green park which UAP continues to utilize overall. The private businessman behind this garage is using the land as both parking lot and also for auto car repair activities. “This has led to the degradation of the lawn, as the weight and movement of cars compact the soil and decimate the grass. Additionally, spills of toxic fluids, such as used engine oil and transmission fluid, pollute the soil and destroy the surrounding vegetation,” the auditors wrote in part. All this encroachment is blamed on the Directorate of Physical Planning’s failure to “have clear physical boundary markings of the public green spaces.” The report condemns those private developers currently utilizing such public land without any clear documented relationship with KCCA as outlaws and declares their ongoing activities out rightly illegal. Other similarly endangered public green spaces in Kampala are listed to include the Constitutional Square which must be surveyed and acreage determined afresh after KCCA lost a significant chunk to the judges as the current Judiciary headquarters was being expanded and enlarged. In total, it’s supposed to measure up to 1.2 hectares. The others include Sheraton Gardens (Jubilee Park 3.04 hectares), Pan-African Square near Clock Tower (1.01 hectares), Railway Grounds (0.52 hectares), Kamwokya Children’s Park (0.29 hectares) and Jinja Road Cemetery near UMI (0.99 hectares). These are the only ones whose acreage is known. The rest, whose acreage isn’t known, include: Kitante Gold Course, Kololo Independence Grounds, Centenary Park, Bombo Road/Watoto Fountain, Independence Monument, Wandegeya along Bombo Road and others. The audit report castigates the KCCA leadership for failing to ensure that grounds like City Square are freely accessible to the public to be able to have recreation activities there (without paying) because that was the objective of the law maker while enacting the law designating such open spaces. The report also faults the Directorate of Physical Planning for failing to draw and publicize a clear distinction between such well-designated green recreational spaces and road reserves. Curiously, previous audit reports have called for rectification of this problem only for the leadership at KCCA to remain indifferent while treating the need to document and have a proper inventory for all such open public recreation spaces as not a big priority for the City administration. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).