By Mulengera Reporters
In a recent recorded YouTube interview, dedicated to explaining the perilous experience he endured for the years he served as Jinja RDC, Eric Sakwa made reference to Mr Patel the Director for Nile Agro Company, making it clear that he currently is one of the most powerful actors who made his work and stay in Jinja hellish.
Sakwa, who these days works with one of the government security agencies in Kampala to which President Museveni deployed him, asserted that Patel hated him immediately after realizing that he was too principled and uncompromising when it comes to protecting public land.
The professional environmentalist, who recently got his masters degree at Makerere University, says that Patel hated him after they clashed over the Tirupati land deals, which the RDC blocked for threatening public interest in Jinja.
He adds that surviving long in the RDC was predictably going to be very hard for him after publicly falling out with Patel because the manufacturer from the Gujarat province of India has over the years accumulated so much power in Jinja and most of the powerful politicians and police leaders are always prepared to ensure the locking up of whoever stands in his way on any deal.
Also known as Isabirye (a name that was given to him to depict his longevity and understanding of Busoga dynamics and more so Jinja City), Patel these days is easily accepted to be the Godfrey Kirumira of Kampala. He coordinates a group of wealthy investors and property owners from India who operate in Jinja. And these coalesce around the Bagaga Kwagalana-like club.
Sakwa, who knows a lot because of the sensitive office he used to occupy, says that Patel has grown into the go-to person and a Mr. Fixer of some sort for most Indian investors desiring to do business in Jinja or Busoga as a whole.
He says this power explains why even NEMA wetland enforcement officers operating in Jinja and other parts of Busoga sub region have to first establish where Patel the Nile Agro director stands before intervening into any conservation-related feuding.
Sakwa cited the example of Masese Division Councillor Nabambula Gayira being the latest victim to suffer the Patel wrath. Sakwa says that Nabambula dug his own grave recently when he took a stand regarding a land deal (adjacent to the BIDCO facility) in his own Masese electoral area and set out to shield the interests of a group of protagonists who were directly antagonistic to the interests of powerful Patel.
The Councillor was jailed, causing his electors to become very angry against the NRM government, and he allegedly could only be released on Police bond and subsequently Court bail, after the concerned decision makers seeking and obtaining Mr. Patel’s consent.
Sakwa also asked government and Parliament to become very deliberate about empowering enforcement officers and teams which NEMA keeps deploying in Jinja and other rapidly-urbanizing parts of Busoga because currently, there is almost a Patel-like power broker in each and every administrative unit in Busoga sub region. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
