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Sportsmen want Ham shopping Mall razed
Young tycoon Hamis Kiggundu
Still battling banks that want to auction his properties, tycoon Hamis Kiggundu aka Ham will learn with utter shock of yet a new plot geared at demolishing his massive shopping mall at Nakivubo stadium.
Masterminding the new plot is Issa Ssekatawa, the gentleman who earned reputation through scoring goals with the ease of Samuel Etto.
Ssekatawa aside, the other masterminds of the plot include Ahmed Mbidde, the treasurer of the Kampala Boxing Club.
The renowned sportsmen allege that the shopping mall poses a threat to soccer fans that are likely to end up injured or killed in case of emergencies such as stampedes and fire breaks since they are no easy exit routes at the stadium.
They add that the development is most likely to attract fury of the world soccer governing body (FIFA) who, they claim, could end up banning the stadium from holding sports activities to the detriment of the public.
They have filed a lawsuit at the High court’s land division, asking for the demolition of the multi-billion complex, accusing the Uganda’s arguably youngest tycoon of constructing the facility without approved plans.
They also fault Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) of looking on after purportedly realizing that Ham was indeed constructing the complex without approved plans.
The sportsmen has also sued Members of the Board of Trustees of Nakivubo stadium. The board members are accused of giving away the public asset in absence of the enabling law, in fragrant abuse of the 1953 Act that governs the stadium and without seeking views of stakeholders let alone seeking permission from Parliament.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs pledge to provide evidence at hearing to prove how members of the current board of trustees of Nakivubo have been holding and continue to hold office illegally.
Calling themselves sports personalities with a keen interest in sports development, Ham’s new adversaries do not spare the Attorney General (AG) either. They fault the AG of failure or ignoring to bring to cabinet’s and KCCA attention the ‘serious anomalies’ surrounding the give away.
On the contrary, the plaintiffs claim how the AG has instead been colluding with Ham to help him walk away with what they call illegalities and by extension the illegal deal.
Claiming that KCCA and the trustees of Nakivubo did not advertise the deal in order for several interested parties to compete for the upgrade of the stadium, they argue how such omission offends the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPDA) of 2003 and in effect renders the give away illegal.
They add that whereas Ham applied to build culverts and plants around the stadium in order to beautify the facility, he ended up building a shopping mall that they claim is a private property that has no bearing at all on the improvement of sports as enshrined under the 1953 Act that set up Nakivubo stadium.
“Ham has never carried out repairs on the stadium. On the contrary he pulled down the stadium’s perimeter wall and replaced it with shops,” they quarrel.
These people’s is a long story, but all in all, the plaintiffs will have to first convince court that the addition of Ham to the case is necessary which application they have since filed with the grounds to back it up.
They had initially sued the trustees of Nakivubo, KCCA and the Attorney General, but are now saying that bringing Ham on board is necessary since he is the beneficiary of what they call an illegal give away of the public property.
Justice David Bashaija will hear the application seeking to bring Ham on board.
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