Kampala land board petitions Museveni over leases

The Kampala District Land Board (KDLB) has petitioned President Museveni to prevail over the Ministry of Lands officials involved in “facilitating ill-intended leases”, which it claims has fueled land conflicts. 

 In a follow-up letter to the President, Dr David Balondemu, the chairperson of KDLB, revealed that the mess has affected the collection of revenue. 

“This has obstructed business and development in Kampala,” Dr Balondemu said in a March 1 petition.

 The petition, which was kept confidential for months, highlights key land reforms in Kampala under Dr Balondemu’s watch and the challenges in land management.

The board chairperson said fraudulent leases and the conflict between the board and the Ministry of Lands officials have hampered service delivery. 

“Your Excellency, the lawful enforcement has encountered resistance because of Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development guidelines, which are to the effect that the said right of re-entry is not available in regard to former public land and that once a lease has been granted by the board, the lessee has an automatic right of extension or renewal,” the petition reads.   

“This has led to  flagrant violation of lease terms, making leases appear as if they are grants of the freehold which has facilitated hoarding of land by some lessees. As a board, keen on fostering planning and development of the city, we feel this position by the Ministry of Lands is absurd since, it doesn’t cater for infrastructure development, but most damagingly encourages land speculation.”   

Dr Balondemu explained that many of the lessees have gone ahead to breach lease covenants, but they cannot be interdicted by the board through the right of re-entry as they are being shielded by the Ministry of lands guidelines. 

The State minister for Lands, Mr Sam Mayanja, yesterday said: “The ministry’s guidelines are not just manufactured, but they are derived from the Constitution of Uganda and they are meant to protect the citizens, especially low-income earners. The land boards should not blame the ministry, if it is a problem, it was caused by the people who made our Constitution.”

“In my view, I find the KDLB as misconceived because on several occasions, I have issued notices to the district land boards to provide annual reports and many of them have not done so. They should have started with fulfilling such minimum requirements before writing to the President to cause a change in the laws. 

“If a lessee uses the land to acquire a loan, what is wrong with that? I think it is even good because such a person has been enabled to have access to resources for investment. Actually, the guidelines are very good because many people want to sell people’s land.” 

Lease covenants

Under the statute, land under the control of KDLB is held in trust for citizens who apply to the board for allocation of the land on a leasehold basis. 

According to the condition of the lease; the lessee is supposed to use the land for infrastructural development, a condition that many lessees have failed to fulfill. 

In the board’s letter to the President, Dr Balondemu explained that most of the lessees have, however, turned the land into security with financial institutions to secure loans rather than developing the land as agreed upon in the lease agreement. 

Other challenges raised by KDLB are inadequate financial support and lack of synergies between the board and a KCCA technical departments. To solve the challenges, KDLB has asked the President to use his authority and slap off the Ministry of Lands guidelines, which they said are shielding fraudulent lessees.