Land Question in Uganda Essay Example
Land Question in Uganda Essay Example

Land Question in Uganda Essay Example

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  • Pages: 14 (3708 words)
  • Published: May 14, 2018
  • Type: Case Study
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Land is probably the most invaluable asset for the citizens of Uganda.

With more than 80% of the rural population directly deriving livelihoods on it through subsistence agriculture, land access, ownership and use are core to economic, social and environmental drivers of land reforms in Uganda. It is against the central role of land and its resources in Agenda's economic development agenda that successive political regimes sought to reform land tenure relations.

But Agenda's sluggish move from difficulties of land tenure administration complete with cumbersome policy delivery and ineffective and-use management partly stem from the troubled colonial legacy, complete with unfair policies. But with the enactment of 1995, there was a landmark change, for Article 237 of the 1 995 , provided and directly bestowed the ultimate ownership of lan

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d to the people of Uganda; vested in them in accordance with freehold, leasehold, Mails land and customary land tenure system.

Government also obtained the residual authority to control land use in the public interest; and may "under laws made by parliament and policies made from time to time to regulate the use of land.

" The Government of Uganda had undertaken a series of legal and policy forms with regard to property rights and resource governance, towards a fundamental reform in rights and tenure management of land.

Namely; the Land Reform Decree of 1 975, the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, the Land Act in 1 998 and the land policy of 201 3 with intention that these reforms will result in "politically and socially acceptable and technically feasible solutions to the land problems in the country however to the contrary there continues to b

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even Land grabbing, land wrangles and conflicts amidst these land reforms being put in place.

The purpose of this paper is therefore is to examine whether these problems could have been located right from the time of formulating the land policies or implementation level and to come up with solutions to the escalating land problems in the country.

INTRODUCTION Various definition has been given to Land for instance Merriam -Webster dictionary defines land as solid part of the surface of the earth; ground or soil of a special situation, nature or quality; surface of the earth and all its natural resources (Merriam-Webster) Land is the basic resource (in terms of the space it provides, the environmental resources it contains and supports, and he capital it represents and generates).

It is a commercial asset that can be used and traded, it is a critical factor of production; it is an essential part of the national patrimony; and it is a key factor in shaping individual and collective identity through its history, the cultural expressions and idioms with which it is associated, and it influences spirituality and aesthetic values of all human societies and Land is a vital resource for individual survival and economic development (Draft National Land Policy, 2008 Pl; Land is the most valuable resource, and more so, in developing/agricultural- based countries such as Uganda where the majority of the people stay in rural areas (Bins (2008)1.

Land in Uganda like other agrarian societies is the only primary means of survival; to generate a livelihood, accumulate wealth and transfer it between generations (Kooks J. , 2005) Land is therefore the basic source of food, employment,

key agricultural input and is also a major determinant of the farmers' access to other productive sources (ibid) and an essential part of the national patrimony (Rout 2013). Therefore, land is an emotive issue, most particularly with regard to issues of land access, ownership, and utilization. Whereas Uganda has undergone successive land tenure reforms since the colonial era, no single political regime has succeeded in holding Uganda together under a universally acceptable single land tenure system that enjoys both social and legal legitimacy.

Historical Background to land reforms and problems in Uganda 2 The history of land tenure points out the customary system as the autochthonous tenure system which governed access, ownership and use of land resources long before Uganda was defined geographically or administratively as a country by the colonial government and Before oilman's, land was available for communal use, and land was held for grazing purposes and small scale subsistence agriculture. No single individual owned land.

Land tenure and management was perpetually customary. Today's land problems have been shaped by history (Takeaway, 2002) and During the colonial era, the newly individualized forms of land tenure mainly Mails land, freehold and leasehold tenure systems were superimposed to either supersede existing autochthonous land rights systems or formally confirm pre-existing land rights as was the case in areas under the kingdoms. In other areas outside the kingdoms, customary tenure was left to continue existing with moderation but without a chance to evolve properly (ROR, 2013).

Hence, Uganda Protectorate Government implemented a dualist system of land tenure through which parts of the country were brought under statutory system and in the remainder, traditional customary systems were maintained

(Bowwow's, 2002 as cited by Sometime et al. , 2005).

This duality of property rights systems resulted in land tenures whose maintenance has become confusing in the current social, economic and political circumstances (ROR, 013). While not denying that the current distribution of land rights, together with the system of land administration and management are rooted in the past (Sometime et al. , 2005). The colonialist in Uganda introduced the individualized ownership of property rights against the historically grounded system of customary system that dominated Uganda, in which the rules governing land access and utilization varied from place to place.

Ideally, most of the intricacies involving land tenure reform were created by past land policies, both colonial and post colonial (Kooks, 2005). For instance, a form of feudalism dominated areas of Began, Tort, Bonjour, and Busboy, whereby access to land was predominantly controlled by an oligarchy, and security of land tenure for land users was derived from assured loyalty to the oligarchy (Uruguay, 2003).

Another form of land tenure system was inherently enshrined in a complex network of reciprocal bonds within families, lineages, and larger social units that protected and governed access to land resources and guaranteed secure land rights in line with the customs.

Agenda's land tenure reforms begun in 1 900 and introduced new forms Of and tenure including freehold, leasehold, Mails land, based on the western idea of individual forms of land ownership. Customary rights to land were subsumed by the crown lands regulations 3 under the colonial administration as customary users became tenants of the crown (Sometime et al. , 2005). By its existence today, the customary system was partly transformed

but not replaced.

This is consistent with the view that despite centuries of purposeful dismantling of the customary tenure ideology supported by legal provisions, the tenure not only persists, but is still by far he most widespread (Wily, 2000 as cited by Sometime et al. , 2005).

In common with most colonial regimes, the Protectorate Government in Uganda implemented a dualist system of land tenure, through which parts of the country were brought under a System Of Statutory controls while in the remainder traditional customary systems were maintained (Bowwow's,2003/3). This reform initiative was neatly tied with the property rights paradigm based on the neoclassical economic theories;arguing that traditional African land tenure systems induce inefficient allocation of sources, because property rights are not well defined, costs and rewards are not internalized, and contracts are not legal or even enforceable (Johnson c. I, Barrows & Roth 1990:266, as cited by Rutted, 1997).

Whereas private estates known as mails land tenure system in Began and native freehold in Tort and Ankle were equated to the English freehold, these were granted to the traditional rulers and their functionaries through numerous agreements (Uruguay, 2003). The mails land tenure through the 1 900 Began Agreement technically dispossessed the indigenous population in Began ND Bonjour-Sitar Kingdom of their ancestral landholdings. In fact while Sir Harry Jog moonstone, the author of the 1 900 Began Agreement between the British and Baghdad thought that he was formalizing and preserving traditional rights and privileges in land, the rights under the agreement represented a fundamental shift from the traditional system (Mazurka, 1953 & West, 1972 as cited by Kooks, 2005).

Under the provisions of the Agreement,

land owners were automatically turned into tenants and contain due to utilize their land but as tenants to absentee landlords with an obligation to pay nominal ground rent. In Bonjour however, the rights of landlords were never recognized and landlords never occupied the land (Bowwow's, 2003/3).

For the rest of the country, all land was declared to be crown land and all land users became tenants of the British crown (Uruguay, 2003; Kooks, 2005). Thus, Agenda's initial land tenure reform was founded on discriminatory policies than actual market forces. Meanwhile, the Torrents system of land registration was introduced in the country in 1908, resulting in the introduction of a registry to administer land.

The land registry started out with mails land tenure system and the Ankle, Tort Native Freeholds, but was later rolled out to 4 include Freehold and Leasehold tenure systems throughout the country (Gabardine-Mousse, 2013). In the 1 975 Land Reform Decree under President Did Main, Uganda moved closer towards creating a uniform land tenure system.

The Decree declared all the land public and vested in the State to be held in trust for the people of Uganda. Absolute titles were converted to leasehold of 99 years for individuals and 999 years for public agencies, religious and other charitable iodides; to be administered by the Uganda Land Commission (Kooks, 2005). Tenants turned into customary owners with no obligation to pay rent.

When the Decree was promulgated, even the laws that had been set to regulate mails land tenure in Began, Tort and Ankle (such as the 1 928 Envious and Busy laws) were abolished (Uruguay, 2003), but vigorous land invasions occurred, and some

people like the Bangor interpreted its provisions (abolition of Mails land tenure) as returning land to them (Anamosa-Engaging, 2003:7). The Decree was not enforced and failed to achieve its underlying objectives; facilitating the use of land for social and economic development. Instead, it expressly opened way for land grabbing and land speculation.

State bureaucrats and agents including army officers used power to consolidate land grabbing (Kooks, 2005).

Against the background land reforms under the national government took deliberate steps in mid-sass to resolve historical land tenure problems by defining and entrenching land rights of the citizens of Uganda, and to streamline sustainable land-use and natural resource management. Land reform initiative was theoretically informed by the land tenure study in 1 983 y Maker Institute of Social Research (MISS) and the Land Tenure Centre (LET) of the University of Wisconsin -?Madison, USA (MISS-Wisconsin Study 1989 as cited by Kooks A. , 2006). In early 1 sass, Uganda embarked on a Constitutional making process, resulting in the formulation of the 1 995 Constitution, which was subsequently personalized by the Land Act, 1998. The Land Act sought to reform land tenure relations by ensuring land tenure security and sustainable land-use for a vibrant land market and orderly development.

The 1 995 Constitution repealed the 1 975 Land Reform Decree ND provided for radical changes that among others include; The 1995 Constitution and the Land Act, 1998 redefined land administration by establishing robust institutional structures to steer good land governance in a 5 decentralized framework. The four land tenure systems; freehold, leasehold, Mails land, and customary systems of land ownership were reinstated. Formalization of the customary tenure system was

especially critical as one of Agenda's legally recognized land tenure systems. Customary land owners may acquire a certificate of customary ownership for their land as a documentary evidence of their rights.

In addition, Article 237 of the 1995 Constitution bestowed the ultimate ownership Of land to the people Of Uganda, vested in them according to the four land tenure systems above. The Constitution Article 237(1 ) (b) defines the fiduciary relationship between the State and citizens of Uganda, for the management and protection of natural resources.

The government or a local government holds forests in trust and for the common good of the citizens of Uganda Protection of the vulnerable groups especially the women and children. The Act provides that spouses and children must consent to any form of orientations in the land on which they live, occupy and derive sustenance. For the land transactions involving orphans, the Land Committee must give consent first.

A Land Fund was provided for, to assist people to acquire regrettable interests in land and to facilitate the resettlement of the landless by the government In addition, reforms sought to create functional synergies between environment and land administration sub sectors. The National Forest and Tree Planting Act, 2003 mandates the District Land Boards to register contractual arrangements with private land owners for the orientation or management of the forest produce against the title of that owner or occupier in line with the Registration of Titles Act, Cap 230 and the Land Act Cap 277. Under the Forest Act, the District Land Boards are to register owners Of private natural and private plantation forests, as well as contractual or other arrangements

on private forests against evidence of ownership or separate folio on the register book.

By the year 2001 the implementation of the Land Act, 1998 had become very difficult. There was a dramatic mismatch between the theoretical needs of the Land Fund and the resources likely to be available (ROR, 2011) to address land inequality by compensating the landlords as a precursor for land redistribution. Another challenged was rooted in the direction of the 6 reforms. It became clear that after many years of land reforms and counter reforms, the new framework of land tenure systems was only a replica of the land ownership systems defined by the colonial government, complete with land inequality and less practical regard for the Customary tenure system.

The land reform process further needed to streamline cost-effectiveness of existing systems of land administration and management. Moreover, the principal features of these systems were centralized and inefficient land management and a costly and inaccessible system of land administration (Bowwow's, 2003/3).

The government sought to overturn colonial legacy, improve effectiveness, professionalism, subsidiary and transparency in land administration in particular and public sector management in general. The restructured land administration system was aligned with decentralized system, mainly constituted of the Local Government (the District (LLC) and Sub-County (LLC) levels) and lower levels defined by local administrative units (Stevedore and Valet, 2010).

This system of governance initially projected Uganda as a positive example of decentralization in Africa for radically shifting responsibilities along with considerable human and financial resources to the local level, with environment and natural resource management integral to this policy (Stevedore and Valet, 2010). The Land Act mandates District Land Boards (DOLS)

to hold and allocate land that is not owned by any person or authority, facilitate the registration and transfer of sights in land, cause surveys, plans, maps, drawings and estimates to be made by or through its officers or its agents, among others. District Land Boards also have the mandate from the laws outside the mainstream land sub sector, such as the National Forest and Tree Planting Act, 2003.

DOLS are supported by the District Land Office with technical land management services, the Cartographer, Recorder and Area Land Committees formed to advice the Board on matters of land with respect to ascertaining rights in land. Following the review of the Land Act 1998 and subsequent drafting of the Land Sector Strategic Plan (LISP), the Land Act was amended to move the Land Committees from the parish level to the Sub county level. Following the difficulties in implementing the Land Act, several amendments to Act resulted in minor changes in the land administration Structures at the local level. The Land (Amendment) Act, 2001 was enacted to mainly to enable Magistrates' Courts and Local Council Courts to continue handling land disputes pending the establishment of the dispute resolution mechanisms.

Subsequently, the Land (Amendment) 7 Act, 2004 was enacted purposely to streamline administrative structures of he land administration systems. Among others, it provided that the Local Council II Courts are the courts of first instance to replace the Sub county Land Tribunals, while Area land Committees replaced the Parish/Ward Land Committees. One of the primary challenges to that is that while customary land tenure systems remained unregulated and completely outside the statutory framework Of land law Of the

country, the System Of land administration was itself in no way integrated into the country land tenure framework (Uruguay, 2003). Meanwhile building synergies between different agencies responsible or land administration has been a steep learning curve.

Practice has also shown that there are very limited if any synergies between land administration and natural resource management institutions. Stevedore & Van Valet, (2010) concur that complex relationships and tensions abound among; a) the technocrats and political elites, b) between different levels of government (district level & national level) and, between environment and natural resource management and other policy domains such as agriculture, education, economic development, and others.

Again under the 1995 Constitution and the Land Act 1998, the Government of Uganda sought to address contentious land tenure issues with important provisions for secure and equitable access to land.

For the Government of Uganda to determine potential implementation priorities, the Land Act Implementation Study (ALAS) was carried out purposely to examine institutional, financial and technical needs for the implementation of the reforms in the 1995 Constitution and the Land Act. The study further assessed the social, economic and environmental implications of the reforms and its recommendations resulted in the formulation of the Land Sector Strategic Plan. The Land Sector Strategic Plan (LISP) of Uganda 2001-2011 provides the implementation framework for execution of sector wide reforms in the land sector. It was meant to guide the government, the private sector, the civil society and other stakeholders in the administration and optimal utilization of land resources (Pout, 2013).

Thus, land reforms pursued under the L SSP prioritize protection of the land rights of the poor; ensure improved land access, CEQ

eatable distribution of land and tenure security (Sometime et al.

, 2005). The LISP is complete with numerous strategies to review the policy ND legal framework, protect rights of vulnerable groups, improve Land Services delivery through modern conation Of the Land Registry, support decentralized Land Administration institutions, remove barriers to increase 8 land utilization, strengthen the land rights of the vulnerable groups and especially women, provide an appropriate and supportive framework for sound environmental and natural resource management among others (Pout, 2013; Sometime et al. , 2005).

It entails a framework for the contribution of the land sector to government policies and programs through sector wide approach to address the need for reforms in the land sector (The Global Mechanism, 2007) through the following strategic reform activities; a) Development of a National Land Policy and Land Use Policy b) Review of the Legal Framework c) Survey of some Government Land d) Implementation Of the Land Fund e) Provision of Public Information on Land Rights f) Development of Strategies for Protection of Rights of Vulnerable Groups g) Alternative Land Dispute Resolution (Land Tribunals, Local Council Courts) As a result of the LISP, several activities have been undertaken with relative successes.

Some of the reform strategies targeted specific land tenure issues.

For instance, regulations for the management of the land fund were drafted to govern land acquisition in Kickball District for redistribution to tenants in the "Lost Counties" on willing buyer-willing seller basis (Uruguay, 2003). In accordance to the constitutional mandate the Agenda's National Land Policy was formulated and approved in February 201 3 by Cabinet as the framework for development and use of Agenda's land resources

for the next decade. The Policy has two major objectives: (1) to re-orient the land sector in national velveteen by articulating management co-ordination be;men the land sector and other productive sectors in the economy; and (2) enhancing the contribution of the land sector to the social and economic development of the country.

Policy was formulated to tackle many long-standing issues, including: C protecting Customary land, which comprises Of all land and is largely undocumented Contradictory rights under statutory law and customary law History of conflict, migration and resettlement Weak land rights for women Lack of transparency in large-scale land acquisitions The National Land policy 2013 has eight objectives, and it included; 9 The need to "redress historical injustices to protect the land rights of groups and communities unrealized by history or on the basis Of gender, religion, ethnicity and other forms of vulnerability to achieve balanced growth and social equity. The policy recognizes that pastoral communities have been disadvantaged through loss of "land rights to conservation projects, mainly national parks and other government projects, including government ranches. This has led to depletion of their resources or landmasses. Prevarication of communal grazing lands and other pastoral resources has forced some pastoral communities and ethnic minorities to invade other people's land or to encroach on protected areas in their neighborhood.

" In the case of "Karma, the colonial government set aside extensive tracts of land for hunting and conservation. In 1962, 94. 6 per cent of land in Karma was under reserved status. This status was reviewed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority in 1 998 and was reduced to 53. 8 per cent of the total land

area.

Karma is the most pastoral part of Uganda comprising nearly 10 per cent f the country and surface. To redress the challenges facing pastoral communities like Karma, the policy proposes among others that pastoral lands should be held, owned and controlled by designated pastoral communities as common property under customary tenure. It also calls for action to protect pastoral lands from indiscriminate appropriation by individuals or Corporate institutions under the guise of investments. Another suggested intervention is to promote the establishment of Communal Land Associations and the use of communal land management schemes among pastoral communities.

And given that there is already an increasing level of interaction between pastoral and sedentary communities as well as other land users, the policy calls for the establishment of efficient mechanisms for the speedy resolution of conflict over pastoral resources in pastoral communities and sedentary communities, given the fact that pastoral communities largely occupy lands that traverse international territories, the policy provides that government shall "establish mechanisms for flexible and negotiated cross-border access to pastoral resources among clans, lineages ND communities for their manual benefits. " In the comings paragraphs, we shall examine when the new policy, National Land Policy 2013 has so far fulfilled the objectives it has set forth.

What ones needs to know straight today is that a day rarely passes without a story of forceful evictions, land grabbing, controversial land allocations and other land-related cases for example Evictions continued, especially in Central Uganda and the oil region, especially.

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