Politicians Use Land as a Tool for their Political Mobilization; Minister Nabakooba.

The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Hon Judith Nabakooba has revealed that some political leaders are using the land as a tool for political mobilisation in the name of fighting for the rights of tenants by occupancy. She said sometimes, they instead pave way for people to settle on land with a view to claiming equitable interests or when targeting government to offer them land fund to purchase such land for the people.
 
Although some of the challenges are historical, others are legal. This is especially true in cases of dual ownership, which provides for co-existence of kibanja holders and land owners. The government has put in place reforms to correct colonial mistakes. These include provision of land tenure security, creation of Ministry Zonal Offices to keep proper records with digitalized systems, enacting a law providing for definitions of tenants by occupancy and provisions to regulate their relationships under Sections 29, 30, 31, 32, 32A, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 of the Land Act 2010 as amended.
 
A number of studies have been done which government is putting into policy or legislation. The exaggeration of issues by some people has done more harm than good yet what is required is collective responsibility and team work to address these matters as well as guide the population on the right steps to take.
 
It has been observed that people tend to seek political solutions regarding their property wrangles from many offices, which leads to duplication of work over the same matter. When advised to seek legal redress, they do not heed and impunity continues. We have continuously engaged other stake holders to handle such issues and give guidance to citizens.
 
For instance, RDCs and their security committees in an Executive Order issued by H. E the President, were directed to protect legal tenants. However; we still face challenges with failure to comply with the directive right from Local Council 1 to Local Council 5 officials, the police, RDCs and magistrates.
 
"This, therefore, serves to remind us all of the government approach where the relevant institutions and officials are required to handle land issues as a team so as to prevent unlawful evictions or displacement of people from land," Hon Nabakooba said.
 
Multiple titling of land has been identified as a problem originating from survey works on land. Surveyors, officials of district land boards, area land committees or even Uganda Land Commission, have been accused of fuelling land conflicts. This problem is being addressed by digitalizing land titles. With time, no new entry of a land title sitting on another will be allowed by the system as it will be quickly detected.

"The technology we are now using will go a long way in addressing this problem. The practice now is that for any new title made, the documents are immediately scanned into the system with details of the parties involved in the transaction. Also, survey works are to be supervised by government surveyors and not private surveyors," Nabakooba noted.

The minister emphasised that she has been guided by the Attorney General on the titles issued out after the enactment of the land Act in 1998.
"These titles should be cancelled under the section 91 of the Land Act for having been issued in error or illegally. The owners of the said titles are similarly not entitled to any compensation," she said.
Such individuals should be informed of the available option to obtain a license or a permit to utilise a wetland subject to the restrictions provided for under the section 54 (11) of the National Environment Act and REGULATION 11 (2) OF THE National Environment (wetlands, Riverbanks, Lakeshores Management)

The government through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, continues to take all the necessary measures to ensure that all citizens are effectively served by the ministry. It is the mandate of this ministry to ensure that citizens have security for their property by giving them certification for their places of occupancy and that no one unlawfully deprives them of their rights to property. The lacuna in the existing laws is being addressed through amendments that are already being drafted..