Nabakooba suspends land commission bosses

Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba has suspended Uganda Land Commission (ULC) bosses including chairperson Beatrice Byenkya Nyakaisiki, citing “an administrative standoff” fueled by corruption and bickering over deals. 
After fruitless attempts to reconcile the chairperson and her commissioners, the minister decided to suspend all commissioners and invoked Section 55 of the Land Act which gives her mandate to give policy direction to ULC on any matter. 

In her October 12 letter to President Museveni titled: “Recent events at Uganda Land Commission”, Ms Nabakooba explained the short term measures she has taken to restore order at ULC and delves into the genesis of the standoff. 
In a two-page letter copied to Attorney General, Ministers of State, Ms Nyakaisiki and the secretary of ULC, the minister alludes to an institution inquiry ordered by Ms Nyakaisiki, seeking to expose corruption and abuse involving staff of the commission.                                                     
The inquiry into corruption in land transactions and abuse of funds at ULC has now resulted in an administrative standoff between the chairpersons and other commissioners, bringing the activities of the commission to a standstill.    
In order to restore normality in the short term, the minister informed the President that she had taken over the duties of managing the Commission as Auditor General and Inspector General of Government investigate corruption allegations at ULC. 
“I decided to temporarily assume the duties of managing the Commission as we establish the true genesis of the problem,” Ms Nabakooba wrote.  
“I have asked the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of all key land transactions by the Commission and submit a report quickly……Further, I have requested the IGG to carry out an investigation into alleged cases of abuse and misuse of Commission resources.” 

While Ms Nabakooba and Ms Nyakaisiki were not available to comment on the standoff at ULC, one of the junior ministers, accused some commissioners of turning ULC into “a hunting ground” and called for a cleanup.
 The minister backed the IGG investigation and Auditor General’s forensic audit into ULC dealings. 
The minister explained how a group of “suspected” commissioners ganged up against Ms Nyakaisiki after she instituted an inquiry into the dealings. 

When contacted last evening, IGG Beti Kamya confirmed investigations into allegations of corruption at ULC but didn’t disclose the details. Ms Kamya supervised ULC before president Museveni appointed her IGG on July 15. 
The Auditor General, Mr John Muwanga had not seen Ms Nabakooba’s request for a forensic audit. However, he promised to crosscheck with the registry today, study the minister’s request and see how to proceed with the forensic audit.
Transactions halted
The ULC is a semi-autonomous body established by the 1995 Constitution Art. 238. The mandate of ULC is to hold and manage any land in Uganda vested in or acquired by the government in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. 
The commission is also responsible for holding and managing land owned by Uganda, outside of the country. They issue leases on public land and manage the Land Fund. 
The ULC is responsible for the allocation of public land to the private sector for investment purposes and maintains records of leases on state land. 
However, without the commission, senior officials at the Lands ministry have advised the minister to halt all transactions on public land and wait for the Attorney General’s advice. 

The commission has a two- tier structure consisting of the top management and the Secretariat. The top management consists of the chairperson and eight (8) commissioners who are responsible for the execution of the mandate of the Commission.
Chairperson of the commission is full time while the rest of other Commission members are part time. 
The Secretariat is headed by the secretary who is the accounting officer responsible for overall coordination, direction and management of all functions of the Secretariat. The Secretary is assisted by an Undersecretary who heads three distinct functional units namely; Finance and Administration, Technical Support and Land Fund. 

Sec 41(2) of the Land Act places management of the Land Fund (LF) to the Uganda Land Commission. The Fund is used by the government to acquire land for development projects, redistribution to the bona fide occupants facing eviction, resettle the landless or pay off absentee landlords, among others.