How govt messed up land law amendment debate

Government has averted a major defeat in Parliament by withdrawing the Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking to amend Article 26 of the Constitution. Justice minister Saverino Kahinda Otafiire announced the withdrawal after getting signal that Parliament would nearly vote it down to the last man.
The country is in the middle of an escalation of land disputes. Hotbeds are spread all over the country. In the ongoing Commission of Inquiry, we have learnt that some of the district land boards are simply imaginary figureheads allocating land at the whims of those in power. In Nakaseke, the evidence shows that the secretary of the land board, who ideally should be an advocate or surveyor familiar with land issues, could only have graduated from Nasser Road and should be investigated further for fraud and misrepresentation.
We have also learnt that politicians are still running the land matters in many districts - Jinja, Wakiso and other areas. In northern Uganda, there are a number of disputes - one a border dispute between Adjumani and Amuru districts on the banks of the Nile; in western Uganda there is a controversial application for land housing the Ruhengeri Stock Farm applying for 14 square miles headlined by a big money lender Ben Kavuya. In some districts like Isingiro, land has been fenced off depriving cattle farmers of water for their animals and access to public infrastructure like valley dams.
Officially, government wants to streamline compensation for infrastructure. In reality, this system favours very few who have the political clout to fight compensation battles, some of whom are running into decades as government’s own track record of dispute resolution is very poor. The more critical view, however, is that the people in charge of these projects don’t have a clue on what the long-term effect is on the Treasury. Having come up on the radar in the financial world due to its precarious finances, each new project comes with more strain, more cost and less benefit. For a brief moment, officialdom came under panic when Kenya “miraculously” launched their Standard Gauge Railway. Like all things Ugandan, this panic quickly died out.
The other major miscalculation by government was assuming that the amendment would pass just like that, after all, NRM enjoys a two-thirds majority in Parliament. This assumption allowed government to start implementing the now still born amendment. In the CA, there were slightly two different coalitions that gave government trouble over land - the land coalition and the multi-partists. Very few votes came to a floor vote on land issues because this was the one coalition that carried more than a simple majority of the CA. It was one of the few votes where Sebaana Kizito would easily vote alongside Saverino Kahinda Otafiire. Col Kizza Besigye once raised alarm that the government proposals were being “torn to pieces” yet they contained progressive proposals. Interesting this time that Besigye and his party FDC have made opposition to the land amendment the centerpiece of their countrywide campaigns.
Land has a few dirty little secrets. First it’s the only hedge against record inflation. Even in the current recession, land is still trying to keep up. The Internet is awash with land and property for sale. Most properties have lost up to between 10 per cent and 20 per cent in value, but they still command respectable prices in built up areas. Second, it is the one thing that people all over the country can identify with from Mbale to Kabale to West Nile. Third, there is concern at large scale accumulation of land by individuals outside established procedures. The people who sold early for booze and women are all of a sudden looking foolish.
The mixed reception to Mengo’s proposals to offer leases on land is also a by-product of the same environment. There is an urgent need to regulate controlling authorities on land. There is also a need to revisit series of frauds visited by clan leaders who have assumed title to butaka land and disposed of it as individuals to the exclusion of the universe of legitimate heirs.

Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney-at-Law and an Advocate. [email protected]