The Democratic Party (DP) has supported the government’s proposal to relocate Luzira Prison to Buikwe district in the greater Mukono sub-region.

While addressing members of the press at City House on February 27, 2024, Fred Mwesigwa, the DP Presidential Press Secretary, said that the party is in full support of the government’s decision and should be supported by all Ugandans.

“The 400 acres of Luzira land are misused, and we support that it is given to the investor and the place is developed. As Ugandans, let us not fight development but rather support infrastructural growth; after all, the investor is going to reallocate the prison at his own cost,” Mwesigwa said.

Mwesigwa further justified that in many developing and developed countries, prisons are not located in city centres but rather far away from the cities and major towns.

“Prisons the world over are not in the centre of the city. Prisons are supposed to be very far from the city centre, and therefore, as DP, we support that Luzira must be moved from the city and also that the Jinja prison in Kirinya should also be moved. Let us support the government on this,” Mwesigwa added.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen Kahinda Otafire, revealed in his letter dated February 22, 2024, to the Attorney General that the government has found land where Luzira prison will be relocated and that negotiations are ongoing to purchase the land.

Kahinda Otafire’s letter was in response to a letter dated July 10, 2022, where President Museveni directed the Minister of Internal Affairs to negotiate with the Rian Tang Group and identify land where the prison will be relocated.

President Museveni’s letter indicated that he had received a letter from Tian Tang Group requesting to restructure the prison into a five-star hotel and relocate it to a new area at their cost, an idea the president said he had welcomed and was in full support of.

In the past week, the media has been flooded with different opinions on the relocation of the oldest government prison from Luzira, which is approximately 10 kilometres from the city centre, to Buikwe, which is over 50 kilometres from the capital city.