Aerial view of the 4.25 acres purchased by Engineering Development Fund members and UCU alum. The land is located in Lunnya Village, Namataba Township, on the outskirts of Mukono district.

UCU engineering alumni buy land for economic development

Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, News, Students, UCU Alumni
Aerial view of the 4.25 acres purchased by Engineering Development Fund members and UCU alum. The land is located in Lunnya Village, Namataba Township, on the outskirts of Mukono district.
Aerial view of the 4.25 acres purchased by Engineering Development Fund members and UCU alum. The land is located in Lunnya Village, Namataba Township, on the outskirts of Mukono district.

By Jimmy Siyasa
No land. No houses. Delayed marriages. These three are among the challenges youth in Uganda face. For one group, however, the obstacles were decreased by problem-solving social capital.

A meeting about how to overcome the challenges led in August 2020 to the birth of the Engineering Development Fund (EDF), an association of older students of the Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Design.

Some Engineering Development Fund members inspect land they purchased.
Some Engineering Development Fund members inspect land they purchased.

Hardly a year later, the first challenge is no more. Twenty-seven members are now proud owners of 4.25 acres of land situated 20 miles away from Mukono town in central Uganda.

“We saved with the purpose of obtaining a big chunk of land and then subdividing it among ourselves,” says Paulo Kato, the project director of the fund. “Now, one year down the road, our efforts have paid off.”

Rugged roads, rocks, lush greenery and dots of mud houses are what welcomes one to Lunnya village, the home of the group’s newly acquired land.

The day most members of the group were shown the land coincided with an event – a prayer service to thank God for enabling the group to meet their first challenge. The members wanted a priest the bless the fruits of their labor.

The Rev. Moses Ssenyonyi, who led the prayers, commended members of the association for “being so visionary” that they invested in property in a remote area, with the hope that the area will soon become urban. Ssenyonyi is also an alumnus of UCU.

The chairperson of the village, Bernard Mutyaba, who attended the thanksgiving ceremony, welcomed the group, saying the land had been used for cattle grazing for a long time.

The land, purchased at sh42m (about $12,000) with each member contributing sh2m, has been subdivided into 30 plots, with each of the 27 members taking a plot.

“This is an important milestone for me as an individual, in my journey towards asset acquisition and wealth building,” says Kato.

Some members of the association
Some members of the association

“Ebenezer,” is what Elijah Kainginya says about the acquisition. “Who knew we would become land owners this soon?,” he added. “All the glory goes to God.”

The land has been surveyed and each owner issued a title for their plot.

Rodney Tumanye, the treasurer of the association, promised more of such investments, saying they are already in discussions about how to collect the next pool of funds from the members.

UCU offered members of the EDF not only a training ground, but also the opportunity to meet, unite and share visions for development after school. And that is the social capital that the members want to tap, in their quest to tame the remaining two challenges of no houses and delayed marriages.

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