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The parliamentary probe into the controversial Nakivubo Channel development, led by businessman Hamis Kiggundu, has been abruptly halted following a directive from Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among.
The Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) was in a meeting with top officials from the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), including Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, when its chairperson, Medard Ssegona, received a letter from the Speaker.
The letter indicated that the matter had been transferred to a five-member panel from the Physical Infrastructure Committee, led by Kazo County MP Dan Kimosho.
MPs, journalists and the summoned officials were visibly shocked as the committee chair delivered the communication from the speaker.
“ I have done my part; we have been doing oversight work as a committee, and now my job is to send over the documents as I received them from the KCCA team to Kimosho’s committee,” Ssegona said.
Medard Lubega Ssegona
A Controversial Project
The COSASE inquiry was the latest chapter in a long-running dispute over the channel’s redevelopment.
Kampala’s Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, has been a vocal critic of the project, which he has publicly branded as illegal.
Lukwago argues that Hamis Kiggundu’s construction over a section of the drainage system led to devastating floods in Owino Market.
The Lord Mayor has repeatedly expressed his frustration, alleging that a previous legal case against Kiggundu mysteriously vanished and that a KCCA Council resolution, to his dismay, ultimately cleared both Kiggundu and a former acting director of all wrongdoing.
He has also accused the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), which holds a majority in Kampala's political leadership, of failing to intervene despite his repeated pleas.