Buganda to verify returned land titles

Buganda Kingdom information minister Ssengendo Walusimbi (L) hands over land titles to the Buganda Land Board chief executive officer, Mr Kyewalabye Male, at Bulange, Mengo on Wednesday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA

What you need to know:

Alterations. Buganda information minister says the land should be verified because some of its titles have been altered to freehold, which is illegal

Kampala.

Mengo has directed Buganda Land Board (BLB) to verify the 80 land titles that government returned to the kingdom on Tuesday.

President Museveni handed over 80 extra land tiles to the kingdom prime minister, Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, at State House, Entebbe.
In June 2014, government handed over the first batch of 212 land titles.

The return of the titles is part of the Memorandum of Understanding the government and Mengo, the seat of Buganda kingdom entered, last year.

While handing over the 80 titles to BLB, the kingdom’s information minister, Mr Ssengendo Walusimbi, asked the monarchy’s chief land custodian, Mr Kiwalabye Male, to verify them.

“We were given these titles with a list. Verity whether the folios given match with what is on the list and whether the titles match the description of the land,” Mr Walusimbi said.
“It is now over 50 years when Buganda has got some of its properties, named ebyaffe although some of the land titles had been altered to freehold, which is illegal,” he added.

Kingdom properties were confiscated by the government of ex-president Milton Obote when he abrogated the Constitution and abolished kingdoms in 1966.

Mr Walusimbi asked all squatters on the kingdom land to register with BLB. On the concerns by the President during the handover that the kingdom is evicting squatters, who fail to pay tenancy dues, Mr Walusimbi said the Katikkiro had clarified the matter.

“We are just registering people, an exercise that is voluntary,” he said.

Tenant problem
Compensation: Although the monarchy’s chief land custodian, Mr Kiwalabye Male, was grateful to government for returning the land, he was concerned that it has squatters that have to be compensated. “The unfortunate thing is that the land was handed over to us without any resources accompanying to open its boundaries and register squatters,” he said.

Registration: Mr Male also said it is to the advantage of tenants on Buganda Kingdom land to register for future development of the land. “The Shs100,000 we are charging is just a facilitation fee for land registration. The whole of Uganda with a population of over 35 million has only 700,000 people who have land titles,” he said.