Jinja parents protest over illegal school land sales

A parents’ meeting over the future of some primary schools in Jinja town turned chaotic when outsiders stormed the venue and started fighting.

Police intervened to break up the fight and in the confusion a parent was doused in tear gas and had to be hospitalized.

The Officer in Charge of Jinja Police Station, Felix Mugizi, said that the meeting was illegally convened because police was not notified. 

The parents were protesting because part of the land on which Narambhai primary school sits was given to Makerere Business school and part of Spire road primary school was taken over by councillors, while Main Street primary school land was taken by Jinja municipal council and the Jinja Central Division and was allocated to an investor called Green Tree.

Jinja town is in the process of being transfromed into a city and many investors are buying up land in the municipality for development.

The parents, however, take issue with the fact that the municipal council is giving away mostly school land.