Govt issues 200 land titles to ‘new generation landlords’ in Oyam

The government has delivered 200 freehold land titles to tenants in Oyam District amid rampant cases of land disputes in Lango Sub Region.

The land documents processed under the Systematic Land Adjudication and Certification (SLAC) programme were handed over to the beneficiaries at Apworocero Primary School in Minakulu Town Council on Saturday.

The initiative is the beginning of “a new generation of landlords powered by the government of Uganda”, the minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba said.

“We are going to work hard to deliver the remaining titles. I am instructing the officers from my ministry to share the lists of the titles brought today with the local leaders so that they (leaders) can share the same with the locals,” she said.

She also revealed that the government has put in place a deliberate effort to roll out a national programme of systematic land titling with support from the World Bank, through the Competitiveness Enterprise Development Project (CEDP).

Ms Nabakooba further said one of the government’s commitments in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto is to assist landowners to acquire land titles. This, she said, is intended to mitigate land disputes and evictions and also to protect citizens from the consequences of lack of land registration.

“Use your titles to do productive activities and not to get bank loans, or use it in bars as security,” said Ms Nabakooba, who was accompanied by the Oyam South Member of Parliament Betty Amongi, also the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Ms Hope Atuhire, the Oyam Resident District Commissioner, noted that though the programme is still new in the Lango sub-region, a number of people have embraced it.

“Majority of the beneficiaries have not paid the statutory fees but now that they have seen their friends getting their titles, they will pay,” she said.

Currently, Lango is the new hotbed of land conflict. For instance, police tallied at least 92 murder cases from North Kyoga region (Lango) between January and May 2021 all resulting from land disputes.

After the two-decade conflict perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents in northern Uganda, the land is the only key economic asset for many families in Lango.

In the Lango Sub-region, which spans the nine districts of Lira, Oyam, Kole, Apac, Dokolo, Amolatar, Alebtong, Otuke, and Kwania, the majority of households view land as their only source of survival.

Local leaders say conflict over land arises when individuals -- who often are blood relatives-- compete for use of the same parcel of land.

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