Land probe hands over report to Museveni

The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters has handed over its report findings to President Museveni, four years after it was constituted.
In 2016, Mr Museveni constituted the commission of inquiry after rampant land evictions and complaints that he had been receiving from the public.
Chaired by Court of Appeal Judge Catherine Bamugemereire, the Commission was tasked to look into the effectiveness of the law and processes of land acquisition, administration, management and registration in Uganda.

Commission lead Counsel Ebert Byenkya yesterday confirmed that they were handing over the report to the appointing authority at State House, Entebbe.
“The Commission (of inquiry) is handing over its report today (yesterday) at State House, Entebbe,” he said in a text message.
However, Mr Byenkya could not divulge details of the report. “Our terms require us to present a report only to the President,” he said.

2018 interim report
In February 2018, the Commission handed over to the President an interim report, which recommended a number of actions for the government to adopt. However, by press time, this newspaper had not established if the recommendations had been changed.
The land probe had, among others, recommended that the multiple land administration, management and conservation agencies be merged into two super bodies; district land boards and area land committees be dissolved and their mandate passed on to the proposed land authority.

The report also suggested a reduction of current land tenures from four to perhaps three; freehold, customary freehold and leasehold and that all government land to be held under freehold by the State.

Recommendations
Other recommendations include capitalisation of the land fund to work effectively under the Land Authority; the office of the chief government valuer be restructured, and streamlined, and merged under the Land Authority. .
The probe also suggested that all land fraud investigations should be broadened to include the participation of the Financial Intelligence Authority, the Inspectorate of Government, and other key criminal justice agencies.