Kampala’s City Square Puts a Hotel-and-Mall Plan Against Public Green Space

A roughly two-acre public square in the heart of Kampala has become the focus of a dispute over where the city should make room for business—and where it should leave room to breathe. Buganda’s Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga has joined calls to preserve City Square, challenging a proposal to turn part of the historic site into a hotel, shopping mall and other commercial facilities, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct).

The proposal comes from businessman Hajj Hassan Basajjabalaba and includes solar power as part of the development. It remains under assessment, not a completed land sale. That distinction matters as legislators and city leaders challenge the possible allocation of public green space for private commerce. The site, also known as Constitution Square, is among the few remaining green spaces in Kampala’s central business district.

Mayiga made his intervention on X, arguing that Kampala needs more parks and open areas rather than fewer. He said the city has other sites available for hotels, malls and apartments, and that commercial construction should not come at the expense of this central public space. His objection puts the square’s public role ahead of its potential as a development site.

Mayiga argued that Kampala should expand its parks and squares, not sacrifice them for commercial projects.

A proposal under review, not a sale

President Museveni directed Minister for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs Minsa Kabanda to examine the proposal with Kampala Capital City Authority, or KCCA, and report back. Nile Post Uganda dates that directive to August 30, 2026. In Parliament, Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi questioned reports that the government was considering giving away the site. The government told legislators that the proposal was still being studied and said there was no cause for alarm at that stage.

The current dispute also reaches back to an earlier commercial arrangement. Basajjabalaba told Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises that his company, HABA Group, won a tender to redevelop City Square in 2001. He said the company paid the then Kampala City Council a premium of Shs1.6 billion. Those details are his account to the committee, rather than confirmation that the latest proposal has been approved.

An old agreement shadows the new plan

According to Basajjabalaba, the earlier arrangement would have placed commercial activities underground while retaining green space above. He told the committee that the agreement was later cancelled and that he is now seeking government compensation. That history has brought questions about the land’s legal and administrative status back into the debate, alongside the immediate argument over whether commercial facilities belong at the square.

Kampala Lord Mayor Ronald Balimwezo has opposed redevelopment, citing the square’s environmental, recreational, historical and emergency-response functions. He has called for commercial projects to use other sites. KCCA’s own planning information identifies maintaining and increasing green acreage as part of its responsibilities. The square began as Government Square and was later renamed Constitution Square after Uganda’s 1995 Constitution; Mayiga has also challenged that change of name.

The next step is the assessment by Kabanda and KCCA, after which the government is expected to decide. Until then, the commercial proposal remains unresolved, as does Basajjabalaba’s stated pursuit of compensation over the earlier agreement. The decision will determine how officials handle this particular public space amid competing demands for development and preservation.