Ban on Bunyoro land titles provokes high emotions

On realising that the discovery of oil had resulted in scramble for land, the government decided to put a ban on land titles in Bunyoro sub-region.

Confusion reigns in the oil-rich Albertine graben as a result of government’s moratorium on issuing fresh land titles in the Bunyoro region following several land wrangles.

“Our people when they go to Entebbe (National Lands office) with applications, they are told there is a ban on Bunyoro,” says Hoima District chairman George Bagonza, adding, “This has affected development as people can’t easily use reliable mortgages in banks.”

But the situation will soon get clearer. State minister for Urban Development, Justine Kasule, says her ministry has finalised a programme for selected development plans ,and that it may come into force this year.

But political leaders in the various local governments in the region, some of whom dispute the existence of the moratorium, may need some convincing.

Kasule says the programme` will guide land use, settlements and infrastructural developments in the area, which has been proved to have commercially viable oil deposits.

She says besides developing a land use policy, the ministry of lands, housing and urban development has created a department for land use planning and developed national physical planning standards.

However, the land boards and political leaders of Hoima and Buliisa districts say they have not received any official communication from the ministry on the matter.

“Which law will they use to deny people to title their land? We are functioning normally. We have not yet received any communication to that effect,” the Buliisa District land board chairman, Sabiiti Tundulu, says.

But Hoima mayor, Mary Mugasa says, “For me, I don’t think the government ban is on all Bunyoro land, it came after the people in Bugoma and Kyangwali had encroached on government land, forest reserves, and army land. But some people in Hoima town are still getting titles.”

“This is one thing that the oil industry is going to face as a challenge; land here is owned communally, so no one can sell land. As the leader of Buliisa sub-county, have never received any government circular as regards a ban on land titles,” said Kubalirwa Nkuba, the LC III chairman.

It is this scenario that is somehow hampering development in the area as individuals try to strategise themselves in the budding oil industry.

The minister says cases of land grabbing and unplanned developments had begun to emerge which prompted government to come up with a directive to regulate land dealings in oil areas which will be planned under a special programme. Kasule however said District land boards in Bunyoro have ignored the ban and are going ahead to process titles in the prohibited areas.

“I have been told that some people are conniving with members of district land boards and some officials in the lands ministry to process fake titles. Tell whoever is doing this to stop it. Let them not con people because they will turn against them,” Kasule told the physical planners.

Oil exploration in the sub-region has discovered 2.5 billion barrels of oil in place but of this, only 1billion is recoverable. Tullow Oil, the company contracted by government in oil production is at appraisal stage for the oil wells. The discovery has led to influx of people in search of land, trade and jobs into this region.

Nonetheless, some people in the sub-region think that the government’s moratorium is useless and ineffective basing on the historical land factors of Bunyoro.