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By Mulengera Reporters
For many years, Kampala tycoon Mbaba, who is synonymous with the list of wealthy Baganda with lots of ‘old money,’ has owned and operated Magic Car Parking, which is one of the most famous ones in Uganda’s capital.
Located on the large vacant plot of land lying between Theatre Labonita, Statistics House, KCCA/City Hall, Kampala Christ the King Church and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, the facility has for decades been used for commercial car parking purposes and also as a washing bay. There are also lots of low-income Kampala women who run/operate local food restaurants there.
However, the facility will soon be no more following the conclusion of negotiations between the flamboyant short old man Mbaba and the Government of Uganda, which talks culminated into the land being purchased or acquired to facilitate the expansion of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) headquarters.
The MoFA is to be expanded from a single tower Ministry headquarters into a twin tower of some sort. On that vacant piece of land, previously belonging to Mr. Mbaba, a multi-storied office block is going to be erected to enlarge working space for staff working at MoFA.
As he prepares to become President, Gen MK (who is keen at championing an assertive foreign policy) would like to leverage such an expansive MoFA headquarters to further project power and Uganda’s might to the rest of the world, whose diplomatic representatives in Kampala have to frequently visit MoFA out of necessity.
Sources close to the negotiations say that Mr. Mbaba had originally been maximalist in his price demands whereby he at first demanded for Shs12bn for his largely vacant plot (Magic Parking) but government negotiators eventually pushed him into accepting Shs6bn as the purchase price for the very prime land which for years has famously existed as Magic Parking.
And gratefully, the funding for the MoFA expansion and reconstruction project has already been provided under the next FY budget under the development budget component for the all-important Ministry.
Because they don’t want to miss out on such a God-sent opportunity to project influence over Uganda’s foreign policy direction, the Chinese government has offered to fund the construction project 100% and the same has had to be reflected as such under the FY2026/2027 budget for Uganda. The PRC is also paying the Shs6bn for the purchase and acquisition of the land.
Even the old, and increasingly dilapidated, building housing MoFA currently was donated and constructed for Uganda by the same People’s Republic of China (PRC), which also did the nearby twin towers, which officially is known as the Office of the President. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
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