Why it is safer to own a lease on Kabaka’s land

When Buganda Kingdom introduced an initiative dubbed Kyapa mu Ngalo back in 2017 to give out leases to tenants on kingdom land at a subsidised fee, several critics were quick to pour scorn on this noble cause. 
These naysayers, including top government officials, conveniently misinformed the public that Mengo leases were a ploy to grab their land in the future when the lease expires and is not renewed intentionally. 

Good enough, many people on kingdom land were able to see through these lame diversions, and as time has told, there is no safer option in land ownership than having a certificate of title in your name.
The Kyapa mu Ngalo scenario highlighted the longstanding misconception about leases on mailo land, particularly Mengo leases.
Many people do not make a distinction between the four recognised land tenures in Uganda: customary, freehold, leasehold, and mailo.  

For instance, because both mailo land and leasehold are part of the land tenures in Uganda, some people fail to understand the rationale of getting a lease on mailo land.
Unlike other tenures where land is held in perpetuity, Ugandan land laws provide for multiple interests on mailo land (Kibanja and leasehold), which is predominantly found in Buganda. This is partly because some of this land is held institutionally. 
The Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, the Muslims, Buganda Kingdom, and the central government all have Mailo land. So, to ensure continuity and sustainability of these institutions, they usually issue out leasehold interests to individuals who occupy this land. Some just let people settle as Bibanja holders and pay the nominal ground rent as set by government.

Let’s take the example of the Buganda kingdom land popularly known as Kabaka’s land. When the Buganda Kingdom was reinstated in 1993 and its properties including land were returned, most of the land was already occupied by people either as bibanja holders or leases from Uganda Land Commission. 
The kingdom, therefore, decided to regularise the tenancy of all occupants on this land by registering all bibanja holders and issuing leases – from 49 years to 99 years – to all willing tenants. The beauty of Mengo leases is that they offer an opportunity to revert to kibanja status. This makes them so unique in the whole world!

For proper management of these leases, before anyone applies for a lease from Buganda kingdom, they are required to first register as the rightful kibanja owners with validation from immediate neighbours, local leaders, and Kabaka’s chiefs. This means that if your lease expires and you have no means or need for  renewal, the land reverts back to a kibanja and the tenant continues paying busuulu. What could ever be better than this?
We ought to remember that the Uganda Constitution recognises bibanja owners who in turn are expected to pay annual nominal ground rent to their respective landlords. 

Therefore, all tenants on kingdom land who do not opt for leases have a cheaper option of meeting their annual obligation of paying ground rent as stipulated by the government or district land boards.
The advantages of owning land with registered interests are unmatched. They range from cementing the relationship between the landlord and tenant to boosting the value of the land to the extent that banks can give you sizeable loans using your title as collateral.
So, it is at best foolhardy for someone to start arguing against institutions such as Buganda or the Catholic Church for offering to secure the tenancy of their subjects through issuance of leases or Ebbaluwa Ekakasa Obusenze (certificates of occupancy) in the case of Bibanja holders. 

The current initiative by the government to issue certificates of occupancy to bibanja holders after paying off landlords is a carbon copy of the Kyapa mu Ngalo and Ebbaluwa Ekakasa Obusenze initiatives by Buganda Kingdom. Both are meant to secure the tenancy of the legal occupants.
We should, therefore, join forces to sensitise masses about the importance of registrable interests on land as the sure way of ending the ever-increasing land grabs and subsequent evictions.

The writer, Joseph Kimbowa, works with Buganda Land Board.