Probe halts Shs280b pay for dubious land claims

Kampala. The Commission of Inquiry into Land matters has stopped payment of Shs281.6b that government departments were due to make to diverse claimants in dubious land deals.
Statistics from the Land Commission Chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, show that the commission stopped payment of Shs100b that had been allocated for compensation for a rock beneath the Isimba hydro power dam construction site.
Another Shs132b was also stopped before it was allocated to the intended beneficiaries as payment for a rock under Isimba hydro power dam site. The payment was due to Tom Musisi Kazibwe and Charles Magumba but it was cancelled by the land probe citing possible collusion between the claimants and government officials.
The commission stopped a further payment of Shs40b to 160 title holders who had titles in wetlands and forest reserves. Some of the claimants for compensation had titles in the Nakivubo, Namanve, Kinawataka and Nambigirwa wetlands.
Government had earmarked part of this money to compensate other people in Namanve and Mugomba Central Forest reserve and Gunda local forest reserve. The land probe found that government had already approved the payments yet the claims were still under dispute in court.

Payments to claimants
The commission also unearthed more irregularities in payments to various claimants for land payments. The commission advised the Uganda Land Commission to halt the payments until the controversies had been properly disposed of.
One of the claimants that was due to be compensated from the Uganda Land Fund had a cumulative claim of Shs9,651,655,000.
Statistics from the commission show that by February this year, the probe had received 6,763 public complaints about land.
Fifty per cent of these complaints are cases of land grabbing, illegal evictions, corruption and fraudulent transfer of land.
The commission has also intervened in several cases where occupants on land had been evicted by registered land owners.
The probe observed that “The plight of various people has been brought to light and caused authorities to act.”
The commission was able to test the effectiveness of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism in settling land complaints.
The land probe also compelled the Commissioner for Land Registration to cancel land titles in wetlands, forest reserves or fraudulently acquired.