Government stuck with 326 wetland titles

KAMPALA. The planned cancellation of titles acquired in wetlands, believed to be in hundreds, will take longer to be implemented, the State minister for Environment, Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu, has said.
She told journalists yesterday that their efforts that would have resulted in the initial cancellation of 326 land titles hit a snag when owners of the said titles “rushed to court” and secured injunctions.
“326 land titles were prepared and Cabinet approved for their cancellation. The cancellation is done by the Ministry of Lands. For us, we did our part and handed over to the Ministry of Lands, however, they got a challenge of court injunctions,” Dr Kitutu said.
She was speaking ahead of the World Wetlands Day yesterday in Kampala. World Wetlands Day, which will be marked in Pallisa District in eastern Uganda, is an annual event held every February 2 aimed at raising global awareness on the value of wetlands to both humans and the world at large.
Wetlands play critical roles of filtering, retaining and controlling floods as well as influencing rainfall formation. They also act as carbon sinks thereby controlling global warming.
In 2015, the then Environment minister, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, announced that Cabinet had approved the cancellation of all titles that were acquired in wetlands after the 1995 Constitution. Relevant agencies then started compiling a list of the said illegal titles.
Last year, the National Environment Management Authority released a list containing at least 600 land titles in Kampala District that were acquired in wetlands which the agency recommended for cancellation.
Dr Kitutu said Uganda has reasons to worry if wetlands are not protected.
Uganda has less than 10 per cent of its wetland cover and majority of them have been used for farming, settlemeand setting up factories.
Section 36 of the National Environment Act provides for protection of wetlands and prohibits any person from reclaiming, erecting or demolishing any structure that is fixed in, on, under or above any wetland.
Mr Collins Oloya, the commissioner in-charge of wetland management, said there are more than five wetlands that the ministry is restoring and they will provide livelihood options such as fish farming, bee keeping and providing water for irrigation to entice encroachers out of wetlands.