Only half the pupils enrolled at Iganga Town Council Primary School have reported back for the new term following controversies over the ownership of the school.
The land on which Iganga Town Council Primary School was sold to a local investor, Hajji Saidi Edhiruma for 45 million shillings by the Ministry of Finance. The sale was effected when the Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board put it up the school, one of the largest Universal Primary Education centers in eastern Uganda, up for sale.
However shortly after the deal was finalized, the Ministry of Finance halted the process pending scrutiny of the transaction.
Last month a letter purportedly from the President's Principal Private Secretary Amelia Kyambadde instructed the Iganga Town Clerk to hand over the property to Edhiruma. She accused some unnamed individuals are using their financial and political clout to deprive the investor of what is rightfully his.
During a stakeholders' meeting convened yesterday, the Iganga LC5 chairperson Asuman Kyafu insisted that the primary school would remain a public school, managed by government. He accused the District Education Officer, Menya Muzamiru, who did not attend the meeting, of increasing the confusion about the school and scaring away parents and pupils.
Kyafu told Hajji Edhiruma to look for alternative land to develop his own school.
Hajji Edhiruma, who has a land title for the property as well as other sale agreements, has hired Barya, Byamugisha and Company Advocates to fight for his right to the property in court. The lawyers have served the Town Council with an intention to sue and are defend the case in court.
