Land Law Uganda

Land in Uganda is increasingly becoming a contentious issue with many people losing their land in scrupulous situations. Land cases in Busoga take forever to be resolved and this has led to many conflicts in the area. The translation of the Land amendment Act 2010 into Lusoga is to help the Basoga understand what it is that they need to know about land.

People Power Uganda Manifesto (Bobi Wine)

A vote for the National Unity Platform is a vote for:

* People-Centred Governance.
* Equal Access to Quality Education and Health Services.
* Inclusive Economic Development.
* Land, Natural Resources & Environmental Protection.
* National Security and International Relations.

Intensive Economic Development.

The National Unity Platform seeks to approach economic development by focusing on inclusiveness and integration with the ultimate aim of improving the well-being of citizens and sharing wealth equitably.

While the size of economy has doubled from Shs. 64 trillion in 2010/11 to Shs 128 trillion in 2018/19 poverty has risen by two points since 2018 and now twenty-one percent of the population are poor.

Regional inequality is stark, with poverty ranging from 6 percent to 60 percent.

Exports grew in the last ten years (from $3.83 billion to $ 5.3 billion in 2018). The area of tarmacked roads doubled. But in the same period, undernourishment shot up by 9.2 percentage points.

There must be a determined approach that deals with consistent bottlenecks including limited finances; inadequate infrastructure (particularly low energy for production and bad feeder roads); inadequate skills commensurate with manufacturing needs; unfair competition from low cost producer countries of poor-quality products.

Despite the promulgation of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda which gives powers to the people and every citizen a right to own property under Article 26.  The present Land Acquisition Act cap 226 gives government lee way to acquire people’s land at whatever terms it wants, even if it means violating the fundamental rights of those affected. This law has continued to act as tool violating citizens’ property rights. As a result of the above Act, thousands of citizens continue to lose their property in the name of undefined development.
This frequent use of authority by government to acquire peoples land with or without compensation is further weakening tenure and reducing the incentives to invest in land.
There is need to balance development with citizens’ rights. Putting in place a new law that promotes national development and respect for citizens’ rights is the only sure way of ensuring that Uganda achieves infrastructural objectives in vision 2040 and the millennium development goals.

This paper addresses the present composition of land laws in Uganda and the need for reform. It does not particularly provide a critique on each of the land law legislations neither does it particularly focus on case law principles on the same, a venture which is quite lengthy, to say the least. It however attempts to highlight the pertinent concerns on the most notorious provisions under some of the prevalent land law legislations which can and should be simplified for the convenience of the public. It also provides a doorway for new legislations and regulations that can be harmonized within the present land laws with a view of bringing the general land law up to date with the present concerns.

In that vein, it looks into the present controversy surrounding the Land Amendment Bill, 2007. The object of this Bill is essentially to enhance the rights and interests of lawful and bona fide occupants on registered land. The paper thus poses critical views on the effects such protection accords on other parties on the same land.

The Paper thus serves the general purpose of convincing on the need to harmonize or replace archaic and sometimes discordant land sector laws, so as to bring them in line with the new legal order and thus to implement the new constitutional provisions for protection of land and property rights.

The chapter provides analytical discourse regarding land policy ambiguities, tenure security and subsequent ethnic conflict in Kibale drawing on various existing literature that has been reviewed. While elements of ambiguities have been found in existing literature, there are also stunning gaps which suggest inability to act systematically in provision of tenure security and subsequent reduction of ethnic conflicts in Kibale district.
The proposition of this chapter focuses on the NLP drafts and the 1998 Land Act which legislatively actualized most of the land policy reforms in the 1995 Constitution of Uganda.

The World Bank Policy on Involuntary Resettlement articulates that displaced persons should be assisted in their efforts to improve their livelihoods and standards of living at least restore them to levels prior to the beginning of project implementation. In the same vain property rights in Uganda are constitutionally protected, which ideally should ensure that government compensates people or communities whose land has been compulsorily acquired for public purpose. With over 80% of the Ugandans living in rural communities and primarily relying on agriculture for their livelihoods, large scale acquisitions of land for infrastructural projects is threatening the lives of many especially those in the oil rich areas of Uganda.The reality is that residents are often evicted from the land on which they rely on for food without adequate compensation or resettlement and their complaints are often ignored by Government.  Despite the procedures for compulsory land acquisition and compensation present in the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, the Land Act cap 227, the Land Acquisition Act cap226, the Electricity Act and International Standards. The government deliberately ignores these important processes and the affected communities are ignorant of these processes and cannot ably defend their right to compensation. The inevitable result is forced land evictions without clear and affordable mechanism of redress for the project affected persons.

The living conditions in slums represent the worst of urban poverty. Individuals
and communities living in slums face serious challenges in their efforts to
survive. Depending on their particular circumstances, the lives of slum dwellers may be
threatened by floods, landslides, diseases, exposure to toxic industrial waste, and
indoor air pollution. The lack of access to roads, footpaths, street lighting,
drainage, electricity, garbage collection, and socio-economic assistance – also
contributes significantly to the vulnerability of slum dwellers. Women and
children are especially affected by poor sanitation, indoor air pollution, and the
burden of excessive time spent on collecting water and fuel. The list of
challenges faced by slum dwellers is long, and many of these disadvantages
reinforce each other in a vicious cycle....

In November 1953, the Protectorate Government of Uganda withdrew recognition of Mutesa II as native head of the Kingdom of Buganda. This status had been held by the Kabaka under the Buganda Agreement of 1900, following the establishment of a British Protectorate in 1894. The Agreement also provided for the withdrawal of recognition, as occurred in 1953, should the Kabaka no longer remain faithful to the protecting authority. Following the withdrawal of recognition of the Kabaka, he was deported to Britain. The court case, heard in 1954, tested various constitutional questions arising from this and subsequent actions and found in favour of the Protectorate Government. Because of the constitutional difficulties arising at this time, the Protectorate Government set up a Conference to consider the situation further. This took place in 1954 also, and was headed by Sir Keith Hancock (then Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London). The Conference made various recommendations regarding the future Constitution of Buganda. The implementation of the agreed recommendations of the Conference, and the outcome of the court case, ultimately led to the return of Mutesa II .. two years later as a Constitutional monarch.

Buganda was denied the privileges accorded to her by the 1962 constitution.

On the night of 23rd May, 1966, it was declared that all persons in uniform not authorised to do so, should be arrested. On 24th May, 1966, the Ugandan army led by Col. Idi Amin attacked the Kabaka’s palace at Mengo. After the battle, the Kabaka fled into UK passing through Burundi. The crisis was finally brought to an end by the invasion of the palace and the abolition of kingdoms. It was also brought to a halt by the passing of the Pensions Act which provided for the payment of  pensions of all former traditional rulers with the exception of Kabaka Muteesa II and provisions were made for the education of their children.

Ministry of Local Government by its mandate is positioned to contribute to Good Governance thematic area objectives of Democracy and political Governance, Economic and Corporate Governance and Public financial systems. The Uganda Local Government set-up is based on the District as a unit under which there are Lower Local Governments and Administrative Units. An administrative variation exists for urban local governments where City/Municipal Councils and Divisions are designated to perform local government mandates. Every Local Government is governed by a council which is the highest political authority with legislative and executive powers

This paper presents some of the evidence that underlies the recent change in perceptions on Uganda's development and I discuss some of the key challenges facing the country going forward. It intends to generate a debate on natural resource management in Uganda, and make the paper a common point of reference for the Organization's analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing other East African States as well.

Uganda in early stages of development would require investment in projects with high social returns. Uganda to the middle income stages of development has to diversify her investment into infrastructure to improve the economic productivity, enhancement to the social protection schemes and a relatively small share for a “future generations” fund.

Resumen: Las mujeres ugandesas han conseguido
emanciparse y alcanzar puestos clave
de poder en el sector público. Sin embargo,
aún pugnan por ejercer una influencia decisiva
en la lucha contra la corrupción. La presente
investigación, de metodología mixta,
analiza las causas principales de la corrupción
y el efecto que esta tiene sobre el papel
de las mujeres en su lucha contra dicha lacra.
Se concluye que las mujeres que están en el
poder en Uganda, aunque consiguen mayor
transparencia, se han visto sobrepasadas por
la percepción colectiva de que quienes ostentan
el poder se ven involucrados en prácticas
de corrupción y por la necesidad de supervivencia
política en un sistema político patrimonial.
No obstante, cuando se les ha otorgado
espacio y agencia, han sido transformadoras,
como fue el caso de la lucha contra el VIH y
los cambios que inspiró Allen Kagina desde la
Autoridad Fiscal y la Autoridad Nacional de
Carreteras de Uganda.
Palabras clave: mujeres y poder, corrupción,
Uganda, agencia, motores para el cambio


Abstract: Ugandan women have managed
to emancipate themselves and reach key
positions of power in the public sector.
However, they still struggle to exert decisive
influence in the fight against corruption.
This mixed methodology research analyses
the root causes of the corruption and their
effect on the role of women in fighting this
scourge. It concludes that despite achieving
greater transparency, the women in power
in Uganda have been overwhelmed by
the collective perception that everyone in
power is engaged in corrupt practices and
by the need for political survival in a patrimonial
political system. Nevertheless, when
given space and agency, they have been
transformative. Such was the case with the
fight against HIV and the changes Allen Kagina
inspired in the Revenue Authority and
the National Roads Authority.
Key words: women and power, corruption,
Uganda, agency, drivers of change

I masiro, meglio conosciuti come "tombe regali" del regno del Buganda, sono dei luoghi centrali per la cultura dei Baganda, etnia maggioritaria della popolazione ugandese. Centro nevralgico di attività sociali, politiche e religiose, questi luoghi custodiscono le reliquie, la memoria e "lo spirito" dei sovrani del passato. Scopo di questo lavoro è, in primo luogo, quello di ricostruire il significato e le funzioni che questi luoghi ancestrali assumevano in passato, basandosi sulle etnografie di precoloniale e sui rilievi effettuati durante una ricerca sul campo; in secondo luogo, la presentazione della situazione contemporanea. In questa seconda parte viene analizzato lo stato in cui si trovano i masiro, le attività sociali che in questi luoghi vengono svolte e i significati che ricoprono per la società ganda dei nostri giorni.

The Defense and Security Sector has over the years transitioned from a non-professional Security Sector to a more professional one, and has been able to deliver National Security by providing conducive environment for National Development. The transformation of Defense Sector, andic particular for the UPDF has been guided by the clear Strategic Political Vision which set pace for the Uganda Defense Reform Programmed (UDRP)

In the resolution of land disputes in Uganda, courts are enjoined to visit the scene of the land in dispute in order to gather certain facts and evidence to facilitate a fair hearing of the parties’ dispute. To facilitate that, laws or instruments have been passed especially by the Chief Justice and the Ministries as were explored to highlight the importance of locus visits in the country. The practice of the courts in Uganda has equally been commendable in that regard. What is “Locus in quo?” and “what role does it play in land justice in Uganda?” These and many more are some of the questions that the researcher poses throughout this dissertation.
This dissertation therefore tried to make a case for the improved administration of land disputes through the wide adoption of Locus in quo visits in compliance with the requirements of the laws and practice requirements in place.

Uganda’s population grew from 6.5million in 1959 to 24.4million in 2002, and is currently 28.5 million at a growth rate of 3.9, 3.3 and 3.4 respectively. It is further projected to reach 54.8million by 2025 and 130 million by 2050 (UN 2002). The population of Uganda will continue to grow at a very high rate because of the already created momentum. The population density will also continue to increase. However, it is also projected that the total fertility rate will decline to 2.9 children per woman between 2045 and 2050; dependence ratios will also decline, while the proportion of the labour force (15-64) will increase, a fertility transition referred to as a demographic dividend, a bonus or a gift.

Uganda's "...modern history draws deeply on the archaeological construction and historical manipulations of oral traditions and archaeology during the colonial period. [The essay} chronicles the ways in which colonial administrators initiated interpretation of the massive Bigo earthworks of western Uganda by publishing and repeatedly valorizing a pastiche of oral traditions that incorporated tales told by the Baganda, who lived outside the region and were used to administer territory they helped the British capture from the Bunyoro kingdom. Thereafter archaeologists and historians uncritically accepted these traditions as linked to Bigo, which came to be characterized as the capital of Kitara or the Bacwezi-led empire. Nonetheless...analysis of the oral traditions do not sustain the idea of a Bacwezi empire centered at Bigo nor does archaeology conducted at Bigo affirm it as a capital site. Despite the absence of evidence for such associations, colonial interpretations have been reified by academics and have gradually come into wide popularity, even being appropriated by the president of Uganda to underwrite the ideas of a powerful unitary state in Uganda's past. [The essay concludes] that the head of state's use of this colonial history occurs in a contemporary setting where the centrifugal forces of multiple and powerful kingdoms are found troublesome and deficient when measured against an idealized, united Baxcezi-led empire of the mid-second millennium CE at Bigo." pp. 356 of Unmasking Ideology.

In this paper, the context within which the National Land Policy ascribes to tackle gender issues and especially provide for entrenchment, opportunity, and strengthening of women’s land rights is analyzed. In the first part acknowledgment of influencing context conditions that refine gender issues are detailed these include; the nature of women’s rights, position of women given their transient rights, the consequences of gender inequality on land, and the effect of dispute resolution on land matters. The economic efficiency and equity theory together with the human rights discourse have provided a firm foundation for negotiating and demanding for women’s rights in national policy, which has either had to make choice between options or promote concurrent ideologies to accommodate evidence-based demands to tackle two key issues; access to land and control of land (including its outputs) through adaptation of tenure and legal dualism, making a choice between representation, participant or professionalism in land management and purchase or inheritance under customary or registered tenure. This paper concludes by outlining the key implications of gender
for PSIA data collection and ex-post analysis, as well as implications for systematic
demarcation projects.

The paper provides a general examination of tenure security as an abstract notion, similar to religious discourse using analogical mapping as a qualitative research methodology of comparing the Deuteronomy Law land distribution to Uganda 1998 Land Law LA98.The paper discusses that there can be an analogy of religious conflict to ethnic conflicts because they are both known to be settled only through violence based on unverifiable principles. This study has used the Deuteronomy Law as the source domain in the analogical mapping for this study because it is derived from the bible which is available and accepted by the biggest percentage of both immigrants and indigenous people in Kibale districts. The Deuteronomy Law was also selected as the qualitative method of comparison to the LA98 because it was one of the most influential works in the development of western civilization which were the architecture of colonization. Since, the genesis of the problem of lost counties and subsequent ethnic was created by the colonialist’s discourses; it makes the Deuteronomy Law to be a perfect tool for analogical mapping for this study

In this paper, we study how the General Affective Aggression Theory (GAAT) is devoted to the proof of a rather strong proposition, that ethnic group violent behavior go through stages that entail the violent experiences which the immigrants or the indigenous people have gone through or the distorted cognition which justifies violent behavior. Consequently, the provocations such being devalued by indigenous community may compel some ethnic groups to engage in violence
The aim of the paper is first to construct a General Affective Aggression Theory (GAAT) framework for the assessment of the nexus of land policy ambiguities lack of tenure security and subsequent ethnic conflicts based on existing concepts and then through a case of immigrants and indigenous people in Kibale district. The chapter (paper) also shows how the General Affective Aggression Theory (GAAT) can be applied to land related ethnic conflicts.The theoretical framework that underpinned the study is shown I Figure 1.2 and is build on the works of Anderson and Bushman (1997; 2002) on General Affective Aggression Theory (GAAT).
The significance of this analysis is also to attempt to develop an alternative paradigm for predicting ethnic conflict and violence.

Uganda's "...modern history draws deeply on the archaeological construction and historical manipulations of oral traditions and archaeology during the colonial period. [The essay} chronicles the ways in which colonial administrators initiated interpretation of the massive Bigo earthworks of western Uganda by publishing and repeatedly valorizing a pastiche of oral traditions that incorporated tales told by the Baganda, who lived outside the region and were used to administer territory they helped the British capture from the Bunyoro kingdom. Thereafter archaeologists and historians uncritically accepted these traditions as linked to Bigo, which came to be characterized as the capital of Kitara or the Bacwezi-led empire. Nonetheless...analysis of the oral traditions do not sustain the idea of a Bacwezi empire centered at Bigo nor does archaeology conducted at Bigo affirm it as a capital site. Despite the absence of evidence for such associations, colonial interpretations have been reified by academics and have gradually come into wide popularity, even being appropriated by the president of Uganda to underwrite the ideas of a powerful unitary state in Uganda's past. [The essay concludes] that the head of state's use of this colonial history occurs in a contemporary setting where the centrifugal forces of multiple and powerful kingdoms are found troublesome and deficient when measured against an idealized, united Baxcezi-led empire of the mid-second millennium CE at Bigo." pp. 356 of Unmasking Ideology.

The findings in this paper presents a new debate to the existing view of polarization anf fractionalization as constructive explanation of ethnic conflict which has some merits but partially explains the ethnic conflict between immigrants and indigenous people in Kibale district in Uganda. However, emerging evidence from the qualitative data qualifies it with an important aspect of interfacing land rights with societal identity and survival for several generations. The paper provides an explaination that the occurrence of violent ethnic conflicts between immigrants and ingenious people rotate around on suspicion and fear of one ethnic group to acquire registered land rights on the same piece of land where they are tenants with customary land rights.
Expressions from most of the indigenous people indicates that they lack assurance to tenure security as a result of 1998 Land Act (LA98) ambiguity of land tenure security which enables one parson to acquire registered land rights on the same piece of land another one is residing with customary tenure. These findings confirm the conventional procedure regarding land rights in Uganda which always give supremacy to registered land rights. It has been a common scenario for people who are tenants to be evicted by those with registered land rights. Thus therefore, both Banyoro indigenous people and immigrants resolved to fight the category of people who plan to buy their land with titled land rights. However, from the findings, it is not clear whether if a person of the same ethnic group happens to acquire registered land rights on land of a same ethnic member, may lead to violence.

Uganda has made great progress in recent years, from the perspective of poverty
reduction; absolute poverty fell steadily and significantly during the 1990s, from 56% in
1992 to 44% in 1997, to 35% in 2000 and to 31.5% in 2006, however, it remains
indisputably high in rural areas (especially amongst ethnic minority groups). The
Constitution of Uganda recognizes and protects the rights of minorities to participate in
decision-making; it ensures the equal representation of marginalized groups and protects
ethnic diversity and cultural rights. The Constitution also prescribes affirmative action in
favour of marginalized groups and special interest groups. Despite this, no affirmative
action has been taken to ensure the equal participation of ethnic minority groups in
national policies and programmes; in addition, they are nowhere classified as vulnerable
in Uganda’s national development framework. Instead, a lot of attention has focused on a
set of conventional ‘vulnerable groups’ including orphans, people living with AIDS
(PLWA), people with disabilities (PWD), internally displaced persons (IDP), widows
children and the elderly, leaving ethnic minority groups on the margins and unattended to.
A key characteristic of most ethnic minority groups is their dependence on traditional
ancestral lands and the natural resources for survival or way of life in symbiosis with their
environment; increasingly they are being dispossessed of their lands, this trend was
inevitably set into motion by a regime of dominating development paradigms favouring
settled agriculture over other modes of production; establishment of national parks and
conservation areas and large scale commercial enterprises such as mining, logging,
commercial plantations, oil exploration, dam construction etc, at the expense of their
rights. It is important to understand that the demand for equality and non-discrimination
involves not only the equal treatment of individuals and their protection from
discrimination on account of their minority status but also such issues as recognition as
citizens, freedom from domination by other groups, marginalization from economic and
social development.
This position paper1 seeks to recognize and put to the fore key issues for rights of ethnic
minorities as enshrined in international, regional and national legal instruments within the
overarching national development framework (Poverty Eradication Action Plan), to make
government policies and programmes increasingly responsive to their needs and
demands. Policy makers need to be informed about the current status of ethnic minority
groups in Uganda and the need for a favourable policy, legal and regulatory framework
that on international standards and practice to the rights of ethnic minority groups as
recognized under international law.
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the norms developed to explain the
basis for recognizing and protecting rights of ethnic minority groups, including land rights
and rights to natural and cultural resources, consulting them on processes that affect
them and finally providing room for their participation in processes that affect them.
Recommendations in this paper emphasize the need to accommodate ethnic diversity, to
eliminate political, economic and social exclusion or marginalization and to protect the
rights of minorities in development matters, of particular importance is national integration
in ways that ameliorate or eliminate ethnic grievances and tensions.

This paper addresses the present composition of land laws in Uganda and the need for reform. It does not particularly provide a critique on each of the land law legislations neither does it particularly focus on case law principles on the same, a venture which is quite lengthy, to say the least. It however attempts to highlight the pertinent concerns on the most notorious provisions under some of the prevalent land law legislations which can and should be simplified for the convenience of the public. It also provides a doorway for new legislations and regulations that can be harmonized within the present land laws with a view of bringing the general land law up to date with the present concerns. In that vein, it looks into the present controversy surrounding the Land Amendment Bill, 2007. The object of this Bill is essentially to enhance the rights and interests of lawful and bona fide occupants on registered land. The paper thus poses critical views on the effects such protection accords on other parties on the same land. The Paper thus serves the general purpose of convincing on the need to harmonize or replace archaic and sometimes discordant land sector laws, so as to bring them in line with the new legal order and thus to implement the new constitutional provisions for protection of land and property rights.

Christian churches control substantial areas of land in Africa. While intensifying struggles over their holdings are partly due to the increased pressure on land in general, they also reflect transformations in the relations through which churches’ claims to land are legitimized, the increased association of churches with business, and churches’ unique positioning as both institutions and communities. This article presents the trajectory of relations between church, state and community in Uganda from the missionary acquisition of land in the colonial era to the unravelling of church landholding under Museveni. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, the authors argue that claims to church land in contemporary Uganda draw on: 1) notions of belonging to the land; 2) views about the nature of churches as communities;3) discontent regarding whether customary land owners gave churches user rights or ownership; and 4) assessment of the churches’ success in ensuring that the land works for the common good. The article develops a novel approach to analysing the changing meaning of the landholdings of religious institutions, thus extending ongoing discussions about land, politics,development and religion in Africa.

New Mining (Disputes Resolution) Rules Issued

1. Procedure for lodging of complaints provided,

2.Fees for filling of complaints prescribed.

3.Executive Secretary entrusted with powers to handle disputes
Presenting of witnesses and evidence emphasized.

4.Previous Rules on Disputes Resolution revoked

Innovations in land administration are currently primarily looked at from either a legal, a technical or agricultural point of view. This article reviews the role of 'discretionary space' in land administration innovations. This is a concept from public administration sciences, referring to the degree of freedom that both strategic managers and operational professionals in land administration often maintain to make decisions based on their personal judgment. The article reviews this discretionary space for 3 cases in Africa: the legal land reform in Uganda, the flexible land tenure in Namibia and the organic land law in Rwanda. The cases represent 3 different historical paths of land innovation in which the discretionary space within the respective public sector organisations developed. Vignettes, being a combination of factual and anecdotal descriptions, of these cases provide the analytical basis for a comparison. From the comparison we conclude that zooming in on the issue of discretionary space of land administration organisations provides added value to the discourse of land administration innovation in Africa.

The paper presents a story which exciting but with a confused concept of land tenure security in the Ugandan 1998 land Act (LA98)especially the plurality in land tenure security and raises new inquiry on how they contribute to ethnic conflict. A distinctive feature of this paper is its use of various historical discourses which contain elements of plurality in land tenure security with stunning gaps explaining the contribution of land policy ambiguities to ethnic conflicts in the other countries. Thu,s therefore, the proposition of this paper focus on various studies on land tenure security which have helped to find theoretical location of ambiguities of means and goals as related to tenure security and ethnic conflict in Kibale district in Uganda.