Jinja Hospital puts down part of Shs340m wall for Muslims to access cemetery

Muslims in Jinja City have started accessing the cemetery after a section of a perimeter wall constructed for Jinja Regional Referral Hospital (JRRH) by the Engineering Brigade of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) was razed down on October 29.
The development follows a Monday, October 28 directive from the Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba that half an acre of the contested 4.2 acres of land be given to Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) to create access to the cemetery.
UMSC intends to use the remaining land to set up Heart and Cancer Institutes, and Blood Bank for Busoga Sub-region.
Part of  the perimeter wall that has been razed down to create access to the Muslim cemetery. PHOTO/TAUSI NAKATO
JRRH and UMSC have been contesting ownership of the land on Clive Road West and Baxi Road in Jinja City, which prompted JRRH to erect a Shs340m perimeter wall as a buffer, denying the Muslim community access to the cemetery where they have been burying their loved ones for the past 92 years.
On Tuesday, Ms Nabakooba’s directive was set in motion as a section of the perimeter wall was razed down and the land allocated to UMSC surveyed.
Present were a team from JRRH led by its director Dr Alfred Yayi and Board Chairperson Dr David Mukisa, and the UMSC led by Jinja District Khadi Sheikh, Ismail Adi Basoga. Other officials included Jinja Southern Division Mayor Mr Ashraf Nasser and local leaders, among others.
Dr Mukisa said: “All parties have agreed and signed the attendance list, and we have also taken photos. We are now preparing a report to submit to the Ministers for Lands and Health."
“We allocated Shs340m for the perimeter wall but we shall mobilise more resources, make some adjustments and review the budget so that the whole hospital land is fenced off. We have directed the UPDF Engineering Brigade to start constructing that part,” he added.
Sheikh Basoga, on behalf of the UMSC, said: “Eighty-five percent of Muslims are happy with the half acre given to them because previously, the whole land was sealed off and we had no access to the cemetery and had to jump the wall fence with dead bodies.”
He added that he has secured 13 acres of land in Budondo, Jinja Northern City Division for an alternative cemetery because the current one has no land for expansion.
Earlier, Ms Nabakooba said she will write to President Museveni to allocate Shs400m for buying 10 acres of land for expansion of the cemetery.
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