UGANDA

THEMATIC ISSUES
then the buyer is eventually denied a land title. Participants in this district attributed the
frequency of evictions of tenants by landlords to the confusing land tenure system. One
participant said that;
“Landlords are evicting people from their land due to low
understanding and remittance of payment [1000 UGX
per year], instead preferring to plant forests or any other
business on his or her land.”
The mailo tenure system was also blamed for blocking Ugandans who originate from
outside Buganda from access to land ownership. Sometimes they are sold land, but
eventually denied the land titles. Often, there are conflicts over the collection of land
dues (‘busulu’) between the Buganda leadership and the locals. In Mubende, it was said
that locals who cannot afford the busulu are often evicted, so that their land can be sold
to rich people, and that this happens even if they have lived on the land for generations.
In Kasese it was argued that a land tribunal should be instituted to address land disputes.
It was suggested that in this land tribunal LC I’s should work together with traditional
leaders to address disputes. Participants in different parts of the country said that before
the colonial period, intercommunity land conflicts were appropriately resolved through
traditional structures within the community. For example, an elderly participant in Arua
said;
“Before the white man came here, we were at home and
very peaceful. Clan leaders headed homes. In other parts
of Uganda there were kings, here we had chiefs. Whenever
there were conflicts, clan leaders solved these problems and
people continued living in peace. Problems used to come
over grazing land [and] water points, and these were solved
traditionally by chiefs.”
In Mubende, however, Baganda traditional justice institutions were considered to have
lost credibility exactly because they had failed to solve land conflicts, and had instead,
it was said, contributed to land conflict. Feeling that land conflicts cannot be resolved
through formal or traditional justice, many people across the country resort to witchcraft
and poisoning of adversaries to ‘resolve’ such conflicts. The combination of corruption
and a major back-log of cases in the judiciary and formal courts have further dampened
hopes of addressing these land conflicts. Participants called for alternative land dispute
resolution forums, strengthening of lower courts and cultural institutions to handle land
cases, and strategies to address corruption amongst judges.
The recently introduced Land Amendment Act 2010 criminalized illegal evictions in the
interest of tenants and increased the protection of lawful and bona fide occupants of
registered land. In February 2013, cabinet approved a long awaited land policy providing
a framework for the management and usage of land over the next 30 years. This policy
was also approved to strengthen the protection provided under land laws against
practices such as illegal evictions.
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