Lawyers want Land Amendment Bill dropped until commission finishes work

Making a point. Mr Robert Sebunya, a member of the land probe commission, talks to the president of Uganda Law Society, Mr Francis Gimara, on Friday in Kampala. On the left is Mr Peter Mulira, a lawyer. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA

Kampala. Lawyers under their umbrella association Uganda Law Society (ULS) have demanded that the government stops the process of amending the law on land until the commission of inquiry into land matters finalises its work and reports.
The lawyers were on Friday appearing before the land probe committee chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire.
“There is a problem with the way we do things in Uganda,” ULS president Francis Gimara said, adding, “You appoint a commission of inquiry into land matters and give it mandate to investigate. Before they complete their work, as government you are tabling an amendment before the opinion of the land commission yet one of the terms of reference of constituting it is to advise you on the land acquisition. Why the rush?”
The government has proposed compulsory acquisition of land for public use, and that it may deposit in court a befitting sum for the land it wants to acquire from the owner. Debate on the proposal is still deadlocked with a meeting between the President and NRM MPs this week coming to no definitive conclusion on the matter.
Mr Gimara said sometimes the government may seek to pass laws and policies even in areas where there are fairly good.
“Sometimes government wakes up and you do not know where decisions come from and you see a proposal that is not respecting what is already in place,” he said.
Mr Gimara, who led a delegation of lawyers specialised in land law, was responding to summons by the commission to provide an advisory presentation regarding the views of the ULS on the various matters under inquiry.
The team included lawyers Simon Peter Kinobe, Peter Mulira, Titus Bitebekezi, Bashir Twesigye, ULC Executive Director and Samuel Olumu.
According to the lawyers, the 1995 Constitution returned land to the people and entrusted the government with managing some other land under the Uganda Land Commission (ULC). Other public land was put under the care of district land boards.
“If you have not managed what was given to you by the Constitution under the ULC adequately, you as government, can you be entrusted with more? The challenge with most people would be that much of the land that ULC has given out has already been given out to individuals (and) not connected to public good or public purpose,” Mr Gimara said.
He blamed the ULC for being generous in dispossessing government land, which calls for an investigation.
“There must be an investigation from the time the Constitution came into place. Who has taken that land? For what purpose? What was the process?” Mr Gimara said.
Such interrogation, according to Mr Gimara would increase trust in government as an effective land manager.