UGANDA

THEMATIC ISSUES
single focus groups discussion held throughout the country, by men, women, youth and
local government and civil society actors alike. One participant in Tororo said;
“You see, land is something that is very precious to us ... If
you lose a piece of land you are the poorest, because all of
our dependency is on land.”
Indeed, 85 % of Uganda’s rural population depends on land for their livelihood and
income. 36
Failure to address historical patterns of land dispossession and appropriation is further
compounded by grievances and contestation over identity, ownership, access and usage.
The discovery of oil and valuable minerals throughout the country, and the expansion
of urban centres have further exacerbated the problems. Land conflict manifests in
different forms and between different stakeholders; one tribe or ethnic groups against
the other, citizens against the State, kingdoms against Government, communities against
investors, local Governments against central Government as well as Ugandans against
citizens of neighbouring countries.
Participants painted a picture of how in conflict over land, arguably the most essential
resource in Uganda, all sorts of divisions and conflicts show their face. There is conflict
over land between Uganda and neighbouring countries, between districts, between
ethnic groups, between citizens and the State, between citizens and investors, between
the rich and the poor, between tradition and modernity, between generations and
between men and women.
Participants stated that land conflicts increase in the aftermath of armed conflict and
internal and external displacement. 37 It was also said that problems with land law, policies
and adjudication were contributing to the increase in land conflicts, and that population
growth was leading to growing competition over land. This section will first provide an
overview of land law, policy, systems and practice to understand the context for land
conflicts in Uganda. It will then examine participants’ perspectives on the different kinds
of land conflicts, mentioned above, one by one.
Land law, policy, systems and practice
As stipulated in article 237 of the 1995 Constitution, all land in Uganda vests in the
citizens (rather than, as before, the State) of Uganda. The Uganda Land Act of 1998 spells
out four different land tenure systems: 1. Customary 2. Freehold 3. Mailo 4. Leasehold.
In practice, considerable confusion and variations in the way each system is applied
exists throughout the country. 38
36 Owaraga, N. (2012) Conflict in Uganda’s land tenure system. Backgrounder [Internet], 14 May. Available
from:
[Accessed 27 May 2014]
37 For more information on this particular aspect of land conflicts, see the section ‘Displacement’
38 Uganda Land Act (1998)
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