Minister suspends land transactions over ownership row
Lands minister Judith Nabakooba (2nd left) interacts with an 80-year-old man who was recently evicted from land during a meeting in Nakaseke District on April 30. PHOTO | DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- This suspension will remain in place for a month until an investigation is completed.
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba, has put a temporary stop to all transactions involving disputed land in Nakaseke District. This suspension will remain in place for a month until an investigation is completed.
The minister’s order comes after two meetings were held to address land ownership disputes between landlords and Bibanja holders in Muwaluzi and Wabutunda villages. During this time, landlords are not allowed to carry out any activities on land with disputes until the investigation is concluded.
“The decision to halt any land transaction-related activity on the affected land will ensure that all the affected Bibanja holders and the landlords will have to avail particular details and documents regarding ownership to guide our next step for all affected land. I have stopped all those claiming to be landlords from coming back on the land until the matters are resolved,” Ms Nabakooba said on Monday.
The minister said the directive is in line with the new guidelines that stop any land boundary opening on a piece of land with encumbrances. She has since assumed the powers to grant and authorise boundary opening on land with encumbrances. “We are also putting in place a committee within the Lands ministry that will oversee the issuance of special land titles and the cancellation of titles,” Ms Nabakooba said. In an interview with Daily Monitor on Tuesday, Ms Nabakooba said: “When the rightful documents are presented by whoever claims to be the landlord, including the proof by many of the Bibanja holders, we shall see how to proceed.” Two of the most affected pieces of land are located on Block 321, Plots 2, 3, and 4, and another on Block 784 in Bulemeezi County.
Land disputes During the Monday meeting, Mr Charles Kazungu, the chairperson of Muwaluzi Village in Butalangu Town Council, said there is a dispute over a 640-acre piece of land, which covers both Muwaluzi A and Muwaluzi B villages. According to Mr Kazungu, the land dispute gained public attention in 2020 when officials from the Buganda Land Board (under the Buganda Kingdom) visited the area to collect the annual nominal ground rent, commonly known as Busuulu, from the residents living on the land. “During the same period, another team, allegedly from Bunyoro Kingdom, also came claiming ownership of the same piece of land. Both groups had no official documents introducing themselves as agents from the two kingdoms,” he said. More than 70 Bibanja holders have settled on the land, with some claiming that they have been there since 1986. “We thought this land was part of the public land when we settled here, but to our surprise, it has a Mailo land title from Buganda Kingdom. My land measures 23 acres.
It is also surprising that the District Land Board in Nakaseke visited our community and guided us on how to pay taxes because the land belongs to the government of Uganda,” Mr Kazungu said in a statement. The people claiming ownership, according to Ms Goretti Mukagatare, the Nakaseke District Woman councillor representing Butalangu Town Council, are now presenting a special land title claiming that the original land title got lost. She added that her parents have lived on the land for more than 40 years. “We need answers from the district land board officials to tell us why they have been taking people’s money to give them titles without finding out about the status of this particular piece of land,” she said. In Wabitunda Village, Kiwoko Town Council, on Block 784, several Bibanja holders have already been evicted from the land. Others who tried to resist the forced evictions have had their crops destroyed. The land was reportedly sold to an Indian investor by individuals claiming to be the rightful landlords.
However, the sale did not follow the proper procedures, as it excluded the sitting Bibanja holders who should have been involved in the process. Efforts to identify the purported landlords were unsuccessful, as they failed to attend the meeting. Residents also claim that the phone numbers the individuals had provided are no longer reachable. At least 10 cases involving land-related disputes are registered at the office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) in Nakaseke daily. Ms Margaret Byabasaija, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Nakaseke, said land disputes are a major obstacle to community-based development projects, including the Parish Development Model (PDM). She said many affected Bibanja holders are being blocked from using their land for farming by individuals claiming to be landlords.
Hopeful.
The decision to halt any land transaction-related activity on the affected land will ensure that all the affected Bibanja holders and the landlords will have to avail particular details and documents regarding ownership to guide our next step for all affected land.
