Effective May next year 2025, the GoU will be able to annually save Shs30bn (roughly USD7m) which the 18 Justice Law & Order institutions have been expending on renting office space.
This saving, which will enable the government save money to prioritize other service delivery obligations, is going to be enabled courtesy of the Naguru-based JLOS House (Twin Tower) project which is being completed by Seyani Contractors ahead of May next year.
Located along Plots 98-102 Katalima Road in Naguru, the JLOS House complex sits on a total of 11 acres and will be a two-in-one in that one end will be the JLOS Twin Towers complex, that will have the 18 JLOS institutions on one hand, and the 12 floor complex that will house the new, larger and more spacious Uganda Police headquarters on the other. The game-changer project will cost the GoU a total of Shs256.4bn.
According to JLOS/Access to Justice Sub Programme Deputy Technical Advisor Canon Sam Wairagala, the entire project will avail a total of 64,000 square meters of office working space for the GoU.
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Addressing this year’s annual performance review meeting on Tuesday at Kampala’s Imperial Royale Hotel for the Governance & Security Programme (GSP), under which 32 government MDAs unite to promote rule of law, security and protection of human rights, Canon Wairagala bragged that he was sure this was the last time such JLOS-related events were being held in rented spaces.
He made this vow before a powerful audience that comprised of senior government Ministers like Milly Babalanda, Jackson Kafuzi and Jeje Odongo; development partners representatives, security agencies’ chiefs, Permanent Secretaries and other key stakeholders.
Wairagala explained that the JLOS House project will have enough office space to cater for the immediate and future office space needs for the targeted institutions. The space to be availed will ably cater for the benefiting MDAs’ office space needs for another 20 years to come.
These benefiting MDAs include UHRC, JSC, URSB, ODPP, Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Services, NIRA and others. Besides the JLOS/GSP Secretariat itself, the new office complex will also house the two Ministries of Internal Affairs and that of Justice & Constitutional Affairs.
The Directorate of Citizenship & Immigration Control will remain at Jinja Road but have the opportunity to expand to cover or occupy the premises currently being occupied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Among others, the JLOS House complex will also provide for a parking space that is capable of holding up to 1,000 vehicles at any one moment. The Police’s 12 floors building will occupy 6 acres and the JLOS Twin Tower complex the remaining 5 acres.
The ultra-modern office complex will also comprise of conference facilities, IT centers, breakout areas, archive centers, recreational facilities and an auditorium with capacity to sit up to more than 300 people at a time.
The JLOS institutions, which are to be relocated to be housed in the new complex where they won’t be paying anything for the space, have been occupying and renting a combined office space of 20,000 square meters at a cost of Shs30bn annually.
Wairagala, who chairs the relevant committee that is charged with ensuring that the job is delivered on time, asserted that the Shs30bn saved will be directed into interventions and activities that enhance service delivery at the more than 90 one stop center service points from where citizens access Justice Law & Order services across the country.
The ground breaking ceremony for the JLOS House project was presided over by then Justice Minister Muruli Mukasa during a public function that was held at Naguru on Friday 11th June 2022. Wairagala assured his audience that everything at the construction site was going as per the schedule; adding that he is confident the May 2025 deadline will comfortably be beaten.
Presidency Minister Milly Babalanda, who presided over the opening ceremony for the GSP review meeting at Imperial Royale on Tuesday, saluted all stakeholders for their contribution and clarified that the activities being undertaken under the GSP programme are part of the obligations imposed onto the GoU under the UN-set SDG number 16 which requires all governments of the world to invest into and prioritize interventions that promote peace while deepening citizens’ access to Justice.
The performance review meeting is meant to be a platform to evaluate performance of the preceding year and for identification of challenges while forging common ground on mitigation measures and devise strategies to enhance performance in the coming FY; besides identifying and agreeing on resources mobilisation opportunities to amplify and enable service delivery to the people of Uganda.
