Masaka, (UG): Flamboyant city businessman and socialite, Mr Emmanuel Lwasa has run to President Museveni to come to his rescue after Equity Bank last week seized his property over an unpaid loan debt.
On March 20, agents of Equity Bank went to Masaka City and put inscriptions “Bank property for sale” on Lwasa’s Club Tarven Kick at Kyabakuza Township along the Masaka –Mbarara highway.
The three-storeyed glass building, constructed in 2015, sits on a 200 by 70 feet space. It has 21 self-contained rooms with modern artwork and ample parking space.
According to Mr Lwasa, although the property is valued at Shs4.5billion, he has failed to raise close to Shs600m he owes the bank.
“Your Excellency, my property is on the verge of being taken over by the bank and as an ardent supporter of NRM and a former Kadogo (child soldier in the 1981-86 Luweero Bush war) ,I am requesting for your quick intervention to save this property,” Mr Lwasa told President Museveni on March 21 during a fundraising drive for the construction of Lwengo Muslim District Headquarters and Health Centre IV at Mbirizi, Lwengo Town Council where the president was the Chief Guest.
Mr Museveni, who contributed Shs 200 million towards the construction of Lwengo Muslim District Headquarters and Health Center IV did not respond to Lwasa’s financial woes on the microphone but asked his protocol team to look into the matter.
“Since I’m one of the people who are in government and have got some capacity, I will now start by contributing Shs200 million. If that money is not enough after all of us have collected, you will let me know I will add on,” President Museveni said.
President Museveni however explained that the fundraising would have made more sense if all the homesteads in Lwengo had stable incomes and were able to contribute relatively large sums of money that would enable the project to be constructed easily and quickly.
“I’m happy that the Muslim community is trying to build a health centre and headquarters for their own administrative centre and that is why we are here to support them,” he said.
On the other hand, President Museveni was also happy to note that a good number of the people of Lwengo had listened to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) wealth-creation message.
“As many people were saying, the NRM has a clear treatment for the problems of the people of Uganda right from the beginning. However, for some reason, people were not listening to our message for a long time, but when you listen, definitely you will gain,” he stressed.
Lwasa, who is known to live a lavish lifestyle, is a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement ( NRM).
In the 2021 general elections, Lwasa stood for Masaka’s mayoral seat and lost to National Unity Platform (NUP)’s Florence Namayanja.
In the run-up to the same elections, Mr Lwasa sold off part of his assets including Lwasa Gardens in Masaka City and used the money to bankroll campaigns of NRM candidates in the area.
Story aadapted from Monitor
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