Ugandan government to replace Luzira Prison with five-star hotel

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has allowed a proposal by the Chinese Tian Tang Group to re-develop Luzira Prison into a five-star hotel, the presidency confirmed on Saturday.

This followed a July 10, 2022 letter in which Museveni directed internal affairs minister Major Genera Kahinda Otafiire to negotiate with the group, with the Ugandan leader emphasizing that he “was in full support of the proposal.”

“I have received a letter from Tian Tang Group proposing to re-develop the Luzira Prison into a five star Hotel, with a conference center- and relocate the prison, at their cost, to another place in the interior on a land identified by the government,” Museveni wrote in the letter.

“I totally support this idea. Therefore, you are directed to…. start negotiations with Tian Tang Group about this Programme [and] identify land in the interior, where we relocate the Prison, anywhere in Uganda,” he added.

When contacted on Saturday, deputy presidential press secretary Faruk Kirunda confirmed Museveni’s directive.

On February 22, Maj Gen Otafiire wrote to the attorney general seeking an early March consultative meeting about the said presidential instruction.

“The Uganda Prisons Service have identified 3.5 square miles in Buikwe District, out of which they have agreed to purchase 1 square mile for the said relocation,” the minster’s letter read in part.

The consultative meeting planned for March 6 involving the ministry of internal affairs, attorney general and the administrator general is expected to discuss whether it is legally possible for government to acquire the identified land from the family members in absence of the letters of administration.

“The family of the Late Antonio Lutwama Kabogoza who owned the land have unfortunately never applied for letters of administration since the late passed on in 1928 although they have agreed as a family and beneficiaries to sell the said square mile to the Uganda Prison,” Maj Gen Otafiire disclosed in a letter.

“In light of the current legal impasse on processing letters of administration for the old Buganda estates, the family lawyers have formed an opinion that they (Beneficiaries) can still sale their interest in the said land to the Uganda Prisons Service for the Prisons relocation,” he further explained.

The actualization of the presidential directive would end the existence of Luzira Prisons at its current Lake Victoria shore location where it was established in 1927.