Entebbe Spenah Beach boss John Asiimwe, who has been renting the land on which the beach sits, from former Entebbe Mayor and renowned businessman Stephen Kabuye has been given until Thursday next week to give vacant possession of the land back to the owners after he failed to pay rent arrears of over two years, which has caused bad blood between him and his landlord.
The directive was issued by Entebbe Deputy RDC Jacqueline Kakunda, who chaired a joint security harmonization meeting. The meeting, held at her offices in Entebbe was also attended by the two worrying parties, one side led by Kabuye (landlord) and the other by John, the tenant.
After it was established that John has been a tenant to Kabuye for over 5 yrs, but failed to pay rent, he was given up to Thursday to leave premises in peace.
Through his lawyers of Nangumya & Co. Advocates tried to play legal ping-pong by suing the land lord, claiming to be the bonafide owner of the property, only for the court to rule in the rightful owner’s favour, since he possesses the genuine certificate of ownership of the land and a sales agreement signed by the former owner of the property.
Documents seen by this website indicate that Asiimwe rented the premises from Kabuye on April 03rd, 2017, at a rate of USD 2400 per year, for a period of five years, ending in May 2021.
However, along the way, Asiimwe and his company Spenah Entertainment allegedly defaulted on rent for a period of six months, which prompted the owner of the property, Kabuye, to seek repossession of the facility.
By that time, Asiimwe had defaulted rent amounting to USD 37, 200 being outstanding rent for the period running from December 2019 to May 2021, minus the utility bills outstanding as of that date.
Through his lawyers of Sabiiti & Co. Advocates, decided to grant Asiimwe a rent waiver for the months of April and May, thereby reducing the outstanding bill to USD 8,400, being the unpaid rent for the months of January, February and March of 2020 and part of December 2019.
But, as a considerate landlord, Kabuye, however, instead of taking that option, Asiimwe, using a certificate of NEMA’s approval of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, claimed to own the beach!
Kabuye’s lawyers, therefore, wrote a notice of vacation to Asiimwe and Spenah Beach dated November 12th, 2020, notifying him of the expiry of his tenancy, and the request for vacant possession to the landlord, Kabuye.
He didn’t comply with the notice to vacate the property, along the way Kabuye decided to sell the land on Freehold Register Volume WBU 6465 Folio 9, to a neighboring City businessman, but when he tried to take possession of the property, Asiimwe and his goons blocked him.
So, his lawyers of DROIT Advocates wrote a letter dated September 26th, 2022, to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), seeking the cancellation of the certificate that the Authority had issued to Spenah Beach to operate the premises.
They also notified NEMA that Asiimwe had earlier claimed that the land under contest belongs to Entebbe Municipal Council which had however refuted the same claims.
The landlord’s lawyers quoted a letter from Entebbe Municipal Council dated September 20th, 2022, signed by the Town Clerk Charles Magumba, refuting Asiimwe’s claims that the land housing Spenah Beach belongs to Entebbe Municipal Council.
After critically observing the evidence of ownership of the land and in consideration of the letter from Entebbe Municipal Council denouncing any claims on the property, NEMA consequently cancelled certificate No. NEMA/EIA/15155 that had been issued to Spenah Beach.
Earlier on, Entebbe Municipal Council had written a letter dated September 19th, 2022 to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), cancelling and recalling a letter the Municipality had written to NWSC authorizing them to install water at Spenah Beach, a copy of which landlord’s lawyers had shared with NEMA.
When Asiimwe failed to comply with all avenues to vacate the property, landlord’s lawyers decided to seek help and protection from the Uganda police, in a bid to forcefully evict Spenah Beach.
So, on October 5th, 2020, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martins Okoth Ochola, in a letter dated October 5th, 2022, signed on his behalf by Twaruhukwa Erasmus, directed the Commandant Aviation Police, Entebbe, to forcefully evict Spenah Beach and hand over the property to landlord.
On Friday, October 7th, 2022, the police, together with Kabuye stormed Spenah Beach to evict Asiimwe and his staff from the property. After seeing that he had been cornered and had no other way out, Asiimwe pleaded with the police to grant him a few days until after the Independence Day celebrations, because he had clients that had booked to spend the weekend at the beach.
Following a lengthy meeting between all parties that was chaired by the Entebbe Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Jackline Kakunda, gave Asiimwe an ultimatum to vacate the premises by Thursday next week, or else suffer the consequences of forceful eviction.
Speaking about the matter, D/RDC Kakunda said; “I have talked to both parties and we agreed that on Monday we shall go to visit the beach to sort out a few issues but for now we have agreed to maintain the status quo because there are some visitors who are coming into the country.”
She added that; “We have given Spenah Beach up to Thursday to vacate the place because he knows the owner who wants to use his land.”
Kenneth Paul Kakande said that all they want is Asiimwe and Spenah Beach to vacate the land, such that their client can take possession of the property.
“We had a long meeting that was chaired by the Entebbe Deputy RDC, DPC, the former Mayor Kabuye, who is also the former proprietor of the property and Asiimwe himself. It was agreed that the only genuine owner of the property is our client”.
He added; “We agreed that since there are dignitaries passing through the place over the weekend, we have Asiimwe until Thursday to vacate the place.”
