Church declines to give title to government
Bishop William Ssebaggala
Mukono- Mukono Anglican Diocese has turned down a government request to surrender a title deed for a piece of land where a seed school is set to be constructed, Daily Monitor has established.
Last year, the diocese gave government five acres of land at Ndwaddemutwe Village in Nakifuma Town Council, Mukono District, to put up the school.
“Ever since we offered that piece of land, we have received several letters requesting a title for the land, but according to Church policy, we don’t give away land titles,” the Rev Geoffrey Kagoye, the secretary for education at the diocese, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said they were suspicious of government intentions to have a title for land which belongs to the Church.
This comes a week after Mukono Diocese Bishop William Ssebaggala echoed similar concerns while speaking to head teachers from government-aided church-founded schools in the district last week.
“Why is government asking for our land titles? As a Church, we are not ready to surrender them despite the fact that we welcome their support towards our schools,” Bishop Ssebaggala said.
“Our schools are in partnership with government and we believe this does not warrant them to demand land titles,” he added.
The diocese runs 234 primary schools and 27 secondary schools. It also has five tertiary institutions.
However, Mr Ismail Mulindwa, the acting director for Basic Education, said it would be difficult to implement the project if the diocese does not hand over the title.
He said the title is necessary to ascertain true ownership of the land.
“We cannot put a seed school or any other government-funded project on a faith-owned land if they are not giving us a land title. What if government puts there structures and some people come up in future claiming ownership of the land?” Mr Mulindwa asked.He said government will look for land elsewhere to build the school if the diocese does not hand over the title.
Under the law, land is held in public trust through the Uganda Land Commission.
However, there have been controversies surrounding acquisition of school land by investors in most of the institutions, especially in urban centres.
Following massive encroachment on land belonging to educational institutions through a racket of school heads and other bureaucrats, the Ministry of Education in 2014 directed all district officials to work with head teachers and college principals to submit information on the land in their areas so that government can survey it and process titles for them.
