Judiciary rolls out free legal aid to curb evictions

MUKONO. Justice Centres Uganda (JCU) has embarked on a programme to offer free legal services to curb the increasing incidents of poor Ugandans being evicted from their ancestral land and losing their property in the districts of Greater Mukono.
Land wrangles have for long dogged the Greater Mukono districts of Kayunga, Mukono, Buvuma and Buikwe.
The Mukono District JCU manager, Ms Pamella Akello Kamlega, said they took the decision to offer pro bono (free) services to victims of land evictions after realising that many vulnerable residents in the districts were losing their ancestral land yet they cannot afford the cost of hiring lawyers to represent them in court like wealthy land grabbers do.
“Many poor people with good cases have been running to police or RDCs’s offices to report land-related matters. However, they have not been getting justice,” Ms Kamlega said during an interview on Tuesday.
She said in ensuring that justice is administered, JCU - established in 2009 and operationalised in the Judiciary by the chief justice to provide legal aid services to the poor, vulnerable and marginalised - is also carrying out litigation, mediation between the plaintiff and defendant, referrals of cases that don’t fall under their jurisdiction and coaching of complainants who are not vulnerable to represent themselves in court.

Registered cases
Ms Kamlega said most of the registered cases by JCU relate to disputed land ownership.
“In the month of September, we had 112 cases reported, while in October a total of 196 cases were registered by JCU, Mukono Centre. However, 90 per cent of these are land-related,” Ms Kamlega said.
Ms Christine Tesima, the head of criminal investigations department at Mukono Police Station, said they receive at least five land-related cases every week.
Ms Aisha Nattabi, a resident of Kyabazaala Village in Ntunda Sub-county, Mukono District, who is one of the beneficiaries of the project, said that JCU helped her get a share of her late father’s estate which some of her brothers wanted to grab.
“All my male siblings were given pieces of land when my father died in 1992, but I was left out simply because I am female,” she said,
“However, after the intervention of JCU, I was given my share,” Ms Nattabi said.

Optimism
Mr Tom Sserwanga, the Kayunga District chairperson, said he was optimistic that the project would help the many poor locals that have lost their land to the rich.
Six years ago, President Museveni intervened in some of these land wrangles in Bbaale Sub-County, Kayunga District where more than 500 tenants were facing eviction. The president visited the area twice in one month as he tried to mediate between the landlord and the evictees.
To stop such illegal land evictions, government is in the process of issuing freehold land titles to more rhan 10,000 tenants in Kitimbwa and Kayonza sub-counties, although the project has hit a snag due to political interference and lack of funds.
Last month, the President also visited Kirangira Village in Nama Sub-County, Mukono District where he stopped the eviction of 200 tenants.

Land wrangles

The area is a hotbed of land wrangles that most local politicians are already using it as a campaign tool to get votes in the next general election in 2021.
Eight years ago, parliament passed the Land Amendment Act 2010 which government, said was to protest tenants from illegal evictions.