Africa-Press – Uganda. Land reform has remained on the country’s development agenda since 1990s. Previous attempts to solve the land question have failed because of mistrust and suspicion. Justice Catherine Bamugemereire commission of inquiry (2017-2019) into land matters has disappeared from the public discourse. The government procrastination on a matter of national significance, however, contradicts the promise(s) to table land reforms.
The commission received 8,528 complaints from 123 districts out of 135 at the time of inquiry. The Bamugemereire report, its criticism notwithstanding, contains profound details on land management, ambiguities in the law and offers practical recommendations.
Cabinet instituted an inter-ministerial committee led by Gen Moses Ali to study the report, come up with a detailed Cabinet white paper before implementation. However, the Gen Ali committee is slow-moving and silent even as land grabbers continue to terrorise Ugandans in the various parts of the country.
We are of the view that if the Gen Ali’s committee cannot deliver the Cabinet white paper with utmost speed and accuracy, the President should invoke his powers and appoint another person to do the task. For how long are we going to wait for the proposed land reforms?
The draft land reforms should go to Parliament for scrutiny. The various stakeholders should also be involved to avoid delays. Let us use the Bamugemereire recommendations and observations to dismantle the gaps in the current laws and regulations that for long fuelled land wrangles and illegal evictions.
When laws and regulations fail citizens, criminals and their allies across the political spectrum, take charge, and begin to act with impunity. Land rights are stripped away with matchless ease. In some cases, this injustice happens in the presence of hired security personnel.
Through deep-rooted networks in the underworld, land grabbers bend judicial systems, collude with security chiefs to evict poor bibanja holders and walk scot-free.
The government inaction has worsened land conflicts, illegal evictions and insecurity particularly in central Uganda. The bibanja holders are on their own. Bruised, impoverished and abandoned. They are stuck with toothless laws and regulations. Some sneaky landlords have over the years connived with hardnosed land dealers, working with money-minded lawyers to dispossess tenants.
Our view is that land owners should be entitled to full ownership of their land and bibanja holders should also be protected from greedy landlords and dealers.
Parliament needs to revisit the currents tenure system with a view of identifying sources of land conflicts and evictions in Uganda.
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