Jinja city allocates 52 acres for Makerere University campus

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Jinja City Council has allocated 52.85 acres of land to Makerere University for the construction of a permanent campus, but with strict conditions, including the withdrawal of the land if development does not begin within a specified timeframe.

During a special council meeting presided over by speaker Bernard Mbayo in the committee room on May 23, 2025, councillors endorsed several conditions proposed by the city executive. Among them is a requirement for the university to commence construction within two years of the formal handover and complete it within five years.

City mayor Alton Kasolo said the boundaries of the land had been opened and registered under freehold register volume JJA 76 folio 10, plot number 359, block 4, located at Namizi C village, Budondo sub-county, Kagoma County, Jinja district.

Given that Jinja City Council was created in 2020 after Budondo was annexed to the city, Kasolo explained that the land now falls within Jinja City Northern Division. He said arrangements would be made to transfer the title to Jinja city.

However, councillors resolved that if the university fails to meet the development conditions, the land will revert to the city local government without what they termed “any conditionality.”

Kasolo said this measure is intended to avoid delays that previously cost the city major projects such as the Coca-Cola plant and the Chinese hospital, which were instead established in Namanve and Naguru in Kampala, respectively.

Twaha Waniala arguing in a meeting where councilors resolved the university to co-exist with the facilities in place save for the market. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)

“We lost out on these former projects because of a lack of serious guidelines and selfish political interests, which should be avoided with this public university,” he said.

The councillors also agreed to prioritise science-based over arts courses, and proposed that Makerere provide 30 scholarships annually to Jinja City students, along with 20 to the Busoga Kingdom, in a bid to boost education in the region.

However, the decision sparked contention among councillors, including Twaha Waniala and Agnes Kadama (Jinja West), who opposed the inclusion of existing government facilities in the land allocation. These include Budondo Health Centre IV, a police post, a community playground, a maize mill, the former sub-county headquarters, staff houses, and a makeshift market.

Since Makerere had only requested land, the councillors argued that these facilities should remain.

The largest portion of the land, measuring 27.5 acres, is currently used by the community for maize cultivation. However, division mayor Ayub Wabika said the farmers were not paying any fees to the council. He added that the community had been informed of the upcoming project and were prepared to vacate the land without compensation.

The playground occupies 4.12 acres, the health centre IV sits on 3.96 acres, and the market takes up one acre.

Waniala, a former Budondo sub-county councillor, claimed the market was two acres in size, but Wabika, who was the LC3 chairperson at the time, clarified that a resolution to extend the market by an extra acre was never approved and that the land survey was accurate.

Waniala, also the city’s finance secretary, said the initial land request from Makerere was for 10 acres, but Kasolo explained that the aim was to establish a fully-fledged university campus.

Speaker Mbayo warned councillors of potential land grabbing by so-called land mafias and urged that the land be reserved solely for the university’s use.

Jinja resident city commissioner Richard Gulume warned that neighbouring Buikwe district was ready to take up the university project if delays persisted, as had happened with the Bujagali Power Plant.

“Jinja city is the sitting room of Busoga region, and when anything goes wrong, the whole region misses out. We lost the Bujagali plant, and our people remained at the mercy of begging for jobs due to such delays,” he said.

He therefore urged councillors to make decisions that will leave a lasting impact on the education sector and help alleviate poverty in the region.

City clerk Edward Lwanga advised that the health centre and police post should remain to continue serving the public, as they attract government funding.

Richard Mbaziira (Jinja South), who denied allegations of demanding sh600m to approve the project, supported Lwanga’s guidance. He suggested that the market be relocated by the university, a proposal that the council approved.

Lwanga said the university would, at a later stage, upgrade the health centre into a modern facility and continue co-existing with the other services.

While councillors had earlier resolved that Makerere pay sh1 billion as a premium and sh100m in ground rent, Lwanga said the final figure would be determined by the technical team.

“We are government entities, and we shouldn’t sound as if we are oppressing another. The technical team will sit and guide,” he stated.

Prof. Ronald Kakungulu, director of Makerere University's Jinja campus, said the 52.85 acres were not even sufficient for an international-standard facility. He said the campus would include facilities for inter-university games, a graduation pitch spanning more than three acres, standard roads, a police station, and health services.

He thanked the city for the allocation, noting that the new land would relieve them from the cramped space they have rented at the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) offices since 2009.

Speaker Mbayo said the covenants would form part of the lease agreement, with inputs from the city clerk, technical team, and legal officer Gertrude Nabirye, before being submitted to Parliament for further approval.