Land matters can be amicably resolved if we keep out greed

The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters handed in its report to President Museveni on July 29, 2020 at State House Entebbe.
A Commission of inquiry is one of the bodies available to governments to inquire into various issues. It reports its findings, gives advice and make recommendations. Its recommendations must fall within its terms of reference and proceed from the findings.
The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters was appointed by President Museveni on December 16, 2018 following a wave of illegal land evictions of people from their land. On this point, the Commission found that most of the well-to-do persons have obtained land through illegal means, bribing their way through all systems of land administration and registration.
It follows from this finding that the Commission knows the identities of land grabbers, but stopped short of advising what to do with such people. Instead, the Commission recommended taxation of idle land, which means that a person who saves his money by investing it in land is punished whereas the one who saves it through the bank is not.
The Commission also recommended all land must be put on a single register after an adjudication process. The recommendation begs many questions. Why should land already registered be subjected to adjudication and where will the funds to pay for such an unnecessary process come from?
This recommendation also runs counter to the provisions of the law as it stands. From 1908, land registration has followed the Australian Torrens system of land registration, which holds that a title deed is everything and it cannot be defeated except for fraud of the registered proprietor. This principle is underpinned by various legal provisions.
Under Section 56 of the Registration of Titles Act, production of a title deed is conclusive evidence of ownership of the land described therein. Section 173 provides that a title deed is not defeasible except where there are two title deeds in respect of the same land, in which case, only the first one in point of time is protected.
The Commission should have looked at the land systems which existed before the military regime mindlessly abolished them in 1975. Under such systems, the government’s role was limited to registration of interests, survey, protection of registered titles and holding the sovereign title.
Allodial title means a situation where land is owned free and clear of encumbrances such as customary interests. In the case of fee simple (freehold), the owner has full and irrevocable ownership, which is granted from the sovereign title.
During the colonial period, the sovereign title was vested in the British Crown, and after independence, it resided in the State. The allodial title was vested in the customary head.
The two systems can be demonstrated by the case of Buganda. In 1900, titling and registration of customary land interests was introduced. After survey ownership in fee simple was confirmed by a Final Certificate (FC) issued by the Governor on behalf of the Crown. This was a freehold title which in 1908, was limited by law to Africans and non-Africans could only own it with the consent of the Lukiko and the Governor.
To distinguish such freehold from the rest of such titles, the name mailo was given to it and a register called mailo land register was introduced. Such system can be introduced with modifications to the rest of the country. To think that a commission of seven people sitting in Kampala can overthrow centuries of customs in land matters is to be misguided.
Land matters can be amicably sorted out if we keep out greed and politics.

Mr Mulira is a lawyer.
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