Jinja, (UG):- Jinja Regional Referral Hospital (JRHH) and the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) have been ordered by government to share the contested 4.2 acres of land on Clive Road West and Baxi Road in Jinja City.
The decision was reached during a Monday closed-door meeting convened by the Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba, at Jinja City Chambers which both parties attended.
After conducting a locus visit to the contested land with her Ministry of Health counterpart, Ms Jane Ruth Aceng, Ms Nabakooba said it was resolved that the hospital gives half an acre to UMSC and use the other half to set up Heart and Cancer Institutes and Blood Bank for Busoga Sub-region.
“Jinja Muslim Supreme should be given half an acre of the land owned by JRRH to create passage to the cemetery and small parking for people who will be going for burial,” Ms Nabakooba said, advising the latter JRRH to pass a no objection to that decision.
The development comes after UMSC last week petitioned Minister Nabakooba after JRRH contracted the Engineering Brigade of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to erect a wall fence on the contested land as a buffer.
UMSC in their October 23 letter claimed that the Muslim community in Jinja City was denied access to a cemetery where they had been burying their loved ones for the past 92 years.
Ms Nabakooba said a surveyor and physical planner will survey, offer guidance on the proper planning of the land, and she further advised that all litigation procedures be put aside “in the spirit of brotherhood”.
“In the spirit of teamwork and brotherhood, we have agreed not to go into legalities or put them aside, and we look at co-existence, meaning issues of compensation will not be there,” she said.
Ms Nabakooba further stated that she will write to President Museveni to allocate Shs400m to buy 10 acres of land for the expansion of a cemetery because the current one is full with no land for expansion. “If there is no government land in Jinja which is not encumbered, we might allocate that piece of land to them,” said Ms Nabakooba.
Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng welcomed the resolutions saying they are not overturning any Court decisions, but addressing accessibility to the cemetery that belongs to UMSC and the parking space which they requested for in writing.
“The implementation of an order of curving off half an acre starts immediately on Tuesday (today). We are not going to ask for compensation for half an acre because we are giving it out for road access and parking,” explained Dr Aceng.
According to Aceng, the construction of a Blood Bank, Cancer and Heart Institutes will be done as soon as resources have been acquired and once Cabinet discusses and approves.
The Deputy Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Ali Waiswa, asked the Muslim community to receive the news with acceptance, saying: “We have reached an amicable solution to access the cemetery and thank the Ministers for Lands and Health.”
Do you have a story or an opinion to share? Email us on: [email protected] Or join the Daily Express WhatsApp channel for all the latest news and trends or join the Telegram Channel for the latest updates.
