Wakiso shuts lands offices, 400,000 transactions affected

Wakiso lands offices closes for three weeks starting Monday to enable the staff relocate to a new complex and also undergo a digital training.
Lands minister Persis Namuganza said no single transaction will be undertaken during the shutdown, meaning there will be no land title deeds or government supported survey operations.
She said the closure that is meant to pave way for an uninterrupted digital system up-grades of the Lands Information System (LIS), will affect at last 400,000 transactions.
“The total number of land titles under the Wakiso (ministry zonal office) that will be affected by the temporary closure is 394,000, with those under Busiro totalling 202,000 while Kyadondo has 192,000 land titles,” a statement signed by Ms Namuganza said.
Wakiso Lands ministry zonal office (MZO) is the busiest countrywide. Last year alone, a total of 946,000 transactions were undertaken.
Wakiso is clustered into two counties of Busiro and Kyadondo, with the later county having carried out 480,000 transactions, and the former had 466,000 transactions.
The lands offices issued Mailo, freehold and leasehold titles.
The rest of the MZOs include Mukono, which handles Mukono, Kayunga, Buikwe, and Buvuma districts while Masaka takes Masaka, Ssembabule, Lyantonde, Rakai, Kalangala, Lwengo, Bukomansimbi, and Kalungu districts. Jinja covers Busoga region while KCCA caters for Kampala City. Mbarara handles all the districts in Ankole sub-region.
When the Wakiso offices reopen on January 21, the offices that handle Busiro block will be operating from the new building next to the police station.
The Kyadondo offices will remain at the current MZO location.
“The ministry regrets any inconveniences that will arise due to the closure of the Land Registry and Land Administration department offices, and assure the public that it is intended to improve and better the services of the Wakiso Land Registry,” Ms Namuganza said.
The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development launched the digital land management system in March 2013 and has been implementing and updating the versions of software among all the MZOs.
The Lands ministry introduced the LIS to curb forgeries in land transanctions.
Wakiso being the busiest MZO has had the highest number of illegal land activities orchestrated by staff.
In an attempt to break the ring, the head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Lt Col Edith Nakalema, raided the district and arrested six officials on December 20, 2018.
Investigations by the Criminal Investigations Department of police, the Catherine Bamugemereirwe-led Land Probe and Ms Nakalema’ Unit rooted cases that are still ongoing.