Masindi residents demand display of land title processing fees
A lady checks out the features on her land title. Studying the features on a land title before engaging in a land transaction is one of the things a buyer can do to avoid being duped. PHOTOs/Ismail kezaala
What you need to know:
- In Uganda, processing a land title involves payment of fees that include those unrecognized by the state where middle men are involved.
Residents of Masindi District are demanding a public display detailing net fees involved in land title processing.
Locals further want the entire exercise simplified with requirements for land processing published at sub county offices to improve access to information.
Bujenje county resident Bony Muganyizi reasoned that “the display will enhance transparency in the land titling system.”
“We can't even know the exact cost the surveyor needs which is a crucial part in land titling. We don't know whether the forms are free or are sold and that scare us to start the process of pushing to square land tittles,” Muganyizi said.
According to him, failed transparency implies land titling will continuously be controversial.
For Masindi activist Norman Aliganyira, there is need to create a landowner transparency registry in regional lands’ offices to handle land complaints during the process of acquiring land titles.
“It would be a powerful tool to close tax loopholes, fight tax evasion and help stop money laundering after sensitization of our communities on land titling,” MrbAliganyira noted.
In Uganda, processing a land title involves payment of fees that include those unrecognized by the state where middle men are involved.
“Government should provide details on land titling processes mostly to elders. There’s also need to control the price needed for citizens to know critical information,” landowner Enid Namirimu Enid opined.
Asked to comment on the locals’ demand,Masindi lands officer James Mugoya told Monitor that “there is a display of the process to acquire land titles at the regional lands offices.”
“And those which are not displayed are private, but we have displayed the process at our land offices,” Mr Mugoya emphasized.
About land title acquisition
Proper land title acquisition in Uganda requires that an applicant must be in the possession of fully completed Forms 4, 10, 19, 23, a set of 3 authentic deed plans, 3 passport photographs, receipts of payment and a forwarding letter requesting for a freehold title signed by the District Land Officer of the respective district where the land is located.
