The High Court in Uganda overturned a decision by the government to categorize the Watoto Church property in Kampala as a heritage site, which had blocked the owners from redeveloping it into a modern church complex.

Watoto, an East African cell-based community church, in 2019 submitted a mixed-use development plan to Kampala Capital City Authority for approval, but it was rejected. The church planned to redevelop the site to attract younger people, families and other groups to the church for a new range of services and activities. 

The Watoto mixed-use development plan aimed to demolish the existing church structure and replace it with a 12-story building with a church, a three-star hotel, a 3,000-seat auditorium, shopping and youth center. The plan was crafted by Watoto’s architects of Kampala Playhouse.

The city and the National Physical Planning Board rejected the plan on grounds that the Watoto property on plots Nos. 87 and 89 of Kampala Road and Nos. 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36 along Buganda Road is a national heritage site listed by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities in line with the existing legal framework of Uganda.

Kampala Capital City Authority also said the rejection of the plan was based on the consideration that the Watoto mixed-use development plan would obliterate the Watoto Church building, which has features of cultural significance.

Watoto insisted that KCCA had no rights to categorize the property as a national heritage site and that the mixed-use development plan would give Kampala a facelift.

KCCA rejected the application despite several appeals by Watoto church for a review, forcing the latter to seek redress from the judiciary.

Before Watoto acquired the property in 1984, people referred to the building as the Norman Cinema building owned by an Indian businessman, Norman Godinho who constructed it in the 1940s. Until 1984 when Watoto purchased it, the building was famous as a movie theater and performance hall — and a dream destination for city dwellers. The building also hosted serious national political events, such as the Uganda People’s Congress national delegates conference of 1980, where the late President Milton Obote was elected unopposed as the party president. It’s that connection to national history that led the government to list the building as a national heritage site that merits preservation.

Watoto says its property was never listed under any statutory instrument as required by law and that it is thus illegal, improper, irrational and unjust for KCCA to decide that the building is a national heritage site — a decision that has resulted in Watoto losing more than $1.2 million over the years.  

KCCA and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities argue that the Historical Monument Act of 1968 gave the government officials powers to decide which facility is a national heritage and to publish a list of preserved or protected objects.

Before filing the court petition, Watoto petitioned the National Physical Planning Board to approve the plan, a request that was rejected. NPPB advised Watoto and KCCA to find a workable solution. Watoto later escalated the matter by petitioning the office of the attorney general, challenging the government’s refusal. ReligionUnplugged.com learned that from the attorney general’s office, the matter went up to office of the president but that it still was unresolved until 2022, when Watoto Church and Kampala Playhouse petitioned the high court.

KCCA and NPPB were the respondents in miscellaneous cause No. 207 of 2022 handled by Justice Dauglas Karekona Singiza. In the petition, the applicants asked the court for six orders, including the quashing of the decision of KCCA and NPPB that categorized the Watoto Church property as a national heritage site without following the proper legal procedures.

The applicants also asked the court for an order of mandamus, compelling the KCCA and NPPB to consider for approval the applicant’s mixed-development plan, using application No. C/0850/20 of 2020 for property comprising plot Nos. 87 and 89 of Kampala Road and plot Nos. 28,30,32, 34 and 36 of Buganda Road.

Watoto Church and Kampala Playhouse architects further asked the court for an order for general damages arising from the KCCA and NPPB’s wrongful refusal to approve the mixed-development plan and for costs of the application to be born by the KCCA and NPPB. But Anita Kusiima, the KCCA deputy director for physical panning, told the court that there shouldn’t be any cause of action against KCCA because all it did was to implement the recommendations of the responsible government bodies such as MTWA and NPPB.

In his ruling on July 7, 2023, Justice Singiza noted that the decision by KCCA and NPPB to reject the mixed-use development plan of the Watoto Church and Kampala Playhouse was procedurally illegal and improper.

“It is my judgement that in absence of any bylaw by KCCA listing Watoto Church as a national heritage, it is unreasonably wrong for KCCA and the NPPB not to approve the mixed-use development plans of the Watoto church,” Singiza wrote, adding, “The idea that KCCA and NPPB could hide behind the wings of the other government bodies to reject the Watoto Church and Kampala Playhouse mixed-use development plan was not only illegal but manifestly irrational.”

The judge also issued a writ mandamus against KCCA and NPPB to reconsider the Watoto Church mixed-use development plan application — in a period of three months from the date of the ruling.

The court further ordered KCCA to enact a bylaw listing all the properties within the capital city that should be protected as national heritage sites.

“Where necessary, the properties to be listed should be compulsorily acquired and the owners compensated first as required under the law,” the ruling said.

The court also awarded legal fees. What remains to be seen is whether KCCA will swallow its pride and comply with the ruling of the high court.

The disagreement between Watoto Church and KCCA over the mixed-use development plan comes at the time when churches in Uganda are investing in modern churches that attract  younger people and families to the church. 

John Semakula is a Kampala, Uganda-based reporter for New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper, and is an alumnus of The Media Project’s coaching and leadership fellowship at the Poynter Institute in Florida.