Kalangala risks losing land over lack of titles

Kalangala District authorities have moved to secure ownership and certificates of titles on all pieces of land housing both central and local government facilities.

The Local Government Financial and Accounting Regulations, 2007 requires that accounting officers ensure safe custody of all assets of the council. The assets remain at risk until ownership of the land is secured.

Available records indicate that of the 17 health centres in Kalangala District, only four are established on titled land while 15 public schools do not have any documentation of ownership of the land they occupy.
Kalangala District chairperson Willy Lugoloobi said absence of titles has over the years exposed schools, health centres and sub-county headquarters to encroachment and disputes.

He said majority of the landlords have been slowly processing transfer of documents of land hosting institutions, especially schools such as Kachanga, Bukasa and Mazinga primary schools.

“Most of the land occupied by our institutions were donated by people with good hearts who have since died, but the heirs have been putting hard conditions to fail us in processing transfer of land ownership, but we are yet to come to an understanding,” Mr Lugoloobi said in an interview on Monday.

Scenarios
At Kitobo Landing Site, Bufumira Sub-county, Mr Lugoloobi said residents had mobilised money to set up a health centre II, but their efforts were sabotaged by issues related to land ownership and construction works have stalled to date.

Other health institutions affected include Bwendero Health Centre III and Mulabana Health Centre II, whose land is owned by members of Nyonyi clan.

According to the new government policy, it is upon all Local Government institutions to acquire full ownership of land if they are to benefit from government programmes that entail upgrading or construction of new infrastructures.

Following the massive encroachment, the Ministry of Education in 2014 directed all district officials to work with all school heads to submit information on the land so that government can survey it and process titles for the institutions.

At Bugala Island, where the district headquarters are located, Mr Lugoloobi said the land belongs to Buganda Land Board (BLB) and they are in the process of regularising their tenancy.

It is alleged that the district authorities had acquired enough funds to construct a three-storey building to accommodate all its departments. However, they later constructed a small structure due to tight conditions given to them by BLB.

Part of the land on which Kalangala Health Centre IV is located, is being claimed by the local Muslim community.
“Had we secured a land title much earlier, we couldn’t be entangled in such disputes now,” Mr Lugoloobi added.

Acquisition of land

Land acquisition in Kalangala has in the last decade become so competitive since a big chunk of land on Bugala main island was allocated to oil palm growing.

The district also owns 200 acres of land on Bukasa Island, one of the 64 habitable islands in the district. But in August 2019 information emerged that some private individuals and district officials had acquired plots of land at Bukasa Island forcing the district leaders to halt the allocation, citing irregularities in the application process.

The cancellation followed a directive by Mr Daniel Kikoola, the Resident District Commissioner, after some residents led by Mr George Kutesa, petitioned his office and other top district leaders.
Residents claimed the district land board had not followed the right procedure during the exercise.
[email protected]