Mengo warns govt on abolition of mailo system
Invited. Buganda premier Peter Mayiga (centre) talks to the land commission support staff before the land probe committee in Kampala yesterday. He was accompanied by his deputy Apollo Makubuya (left). PHOTO STEPHEN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- Objection. The Buganda government says the proposed amendments will de-enfranchise land owners in the kingdom.
- Justice Bamugemereire thanked the Katikkiro for honouring their invitation. She suggested for one or two land tenure systems for simplicity in the management of land sector.
KAMPALA. Buganda Kingdom yesterday asked government to drop the planned compulsory acquisition of people’s land before adequate compensation and plans to abolish the mailo land tenure system.
To expedite projects in various parts of the country, the government wants to amend the 1995 Constitution and provide for compulsory land compensation. The proposed amendments, however, remain controversial and have since polarised Cabinet and Parliament.
Appearing before the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire commission on land matters in Kampala yesterday, the Buganda premier, Mr Peter Mayiga, warned that the proposal to introduce a new law for compulsory acquisition of private land contravenes Articles 26 and 237 of the Constitution.
Mr Mayiga said the proposed amendments de-enfranchise land owners in Buganda, which constitutes the most sought after land for commercial and public interests.
While presenting a memorandum, Mr Mayiga also asked the commission to abandon the recommendation to abolish the mailo land tenure.
“The proposal to abolish the mailo land tenure and fuse it with other tenures into a single tenure contrary to Article 237 of the Constitution raises suspicion in Buganda,” Mr Mayiga said.
“The commission was essentially established to target land tenure in Buganda and to ultimately abolish mailo land tenure in a manner similar to what previous regimes attempted to do, in direct and deliberate affront to the people in Buganda,” he added.
This is not the first time Buganda is rejecting plans to abolish the mailo land system.
In February, the Mengo administration warned government that any attempt to scrap the mailo land tenure system would be met with resistance.
Mr Mayiga was reacting to one of the proposals by the commission, suggesting the abolition of mailo land tenure system in the country. The team has since denied such plans.
The Katikkiro instead advised the government to capitalise and use the Land Fund to liberate the landless groups and remove the duplicity of ownership on mailo land.
Mr Mayiga also said the kingdom supports the commission’s recommendation that the Land Fund be purposefully capitalised and restructured to work effectively.
According to the memorandum, Buganda asked the government to complete the return of expropriated land to the kingdom, in line with Article 26 of the 1995 Constitution, the Traditional Rulers Act and the 2013 Agreement on return of certain assets between the government and the Kabaka of Buganda.
Mr Mayiga also blamed the rampant land grabbing in the country on institutional weaknesses in government agencies.
He cited Ministry of Lands, district land boards, police, Directorate of Public Prosecutions and Judiciary.
“These bodies delay, neglect and fail to investigate and prosecute land related crimes in a timely and judicious manner. The weaknesses are coupled with corruption; a compromised, slow and unfair judicial processes in resolution of land matters,” he said.
Justice Bamugemereire thanked the Katikkiro for honouring their invitation. She suggested for one or two land tenure systems for simplicity in the management of land sector.
