KAMPALA. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has been sued for alleged breach of a Shs4.2b contract in connection with leasing out St Balikuddembe Market stalls.
The vendors under their association, St Balikkudembe Market Stalls Space and Lock-up Ltd, sued KCCA before the Kampala High Court on Tuesday.
The petitioners state that on February 19, 2010, they entered a consent judgment with KCCA, with the latter committing to lease to them land in St Balikuddembe Market.
“The defendant presented that it had awarded the sublease of St Balikuddembe Market Plot numbers 24B, 24C, M582, M583 and M585 to the plaintiff (vendors) by the decision of the City Council of Kampala predecessor in title at a meeting of the Kampala District Committee of February 3, 2010 under Min.KDCC 4/51/2010,” the court document reads in part.
Payments
Court documents further indicate that under the said offer letter, the plaintiff was required to pay to the defendant a premium of Shs4 billion in advance and one lump sum and further an amount of Shs2 billion as ground rent per annum also payable one year in advance, which they duly paid on March 29, 2010.
The vendors claim they went ahead and procured a loan from dfcu Bank where they first made a cash transfer of more than Shs3 billion premium to the defendants on March 4, 2011 and later another transaction of more than Shs150 million.
Court documents indicate that the defendant issued a public notice dated March 1, 2010 further presenting to the general public and all stakeholders that it had indeed granted a sublease of the market to the plaintiff company.
The plaintiff contend that when it came to the processing of the lease or sublease for which it had received full payment, the defendant then claimed that it did not have any land to lease or sublease and was therefore unable to implement its obligations.
The plaintiff who are an amalgamation of more than 10,000 small traders, claim that they suffered immense financial prejudice as they had borrowed the funds from a bank to pay the defendant from at a high interest rate of 19 per cent per annum.
Daily Monitor
