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REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development

THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY

WORKING DRAFT FOUR

Submitted by

International Development Consultants JURIDICON LTD


12 Ternan Avenue, Nakasero In Association with P. O. BOX 39530-00623
P.0. Box 5609, Kampala, Uganda Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +256-414-236648/344725/348813
Fax: +256-414-344725/236649
E-Mail: admin@idc.co.ug
Website: www.idc.co.ug

September 2009 Kampala, Uganda


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©Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development


Parliament Avenue, Kampala, Uganda

National Land Policy


DRAFT 4, September 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................1
A. CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEXTUAL ISSUES......................................................4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................4
1.1 LAND IS THE MOST BASIC RESOURCE...........................................................................4
1.2 DEFINITION OF THE LAND QUESTION IN UGANDA....................................................4
1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY.......................................................11
1.4 LAND POLICY FORMULATION AND CONSULTATIVE PROCESS.............................13
1.5 MAJOR DIRECTIONS OF REFORMS IN THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY..................14
1.6 KEY ELEMENTS OF THE DRAFT NATIONAL LAND POLICY.....................................16
CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE LAND POLICY.........17
2.1 VISION OF THE POLICY....................................................................................................17
2.2 POLICY GOAL AND OBJECTIVES...................................................................................17
2.3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES.......................................................................................................18
2.4 THE LAND SECTOR IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT...................................................18
2.4.1 Refocusing to sustainable and optimal use of land ...................................................18
2.4.2 Integration of the land sector with other productive sectors......................................20
CHAPTER 3: THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK..............21
3.1 RESIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER LAND........................................................................21
3.2 THE POWER OF COMPULSORY ACQUISITION.............................................................22
3.3 PUBLIC REGULATION OF LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT.....................................23
3.4 LAND TAXATION...............................................................................................................24
3.5 PUBLIC TRUSTEESHIP OVER NATURAL RESOURCES...............................................24
3.6 GOVERNMENT LAND AND PUBLIC LAND...................................................................26
3.7 MINERALS AND PETROLEUM.........................................................................................27
3.8 LAND TENURE REGIMES FOR UGANDA......................................................................28
B. LAND TENURE SYSTEMS.....................................................................................30
CHAPTER 4: THE LAND TENURE FRAMEWORK...............................................30
4.1 CLASSIFICATION OF LAND TENURE REGIMES...........................................................30
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE................................................................................................31
4.3 MAILO TENURE AND NATIVE FREEHOLD TENURE...................................................33
4.4 FREEHOLD TENURE..........................................................................................................34
4.5 LEASEHOLD TENURE.......................................................................................................35
4.6 COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES ON PRIVATE LAND............................................36
4.7 LAND RIGHTS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES .......................................................................37
4.8 LAND RIGHTS OF PASTORAL COMMUNITIES.............................................................38
4.9 LAND RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN ...............................................................39
4.10 LAND RIGHTS OF DWELLERS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS AND SLUMS.......40
4.11 LAND RIGHTS OF OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS...................................................41
4.12 RESTORATION OF ASSETS AND PROPERTIES TO TRADITIONAL RULERS ........42
4.13 THE KIBAALE LAND QUESTION...................................................................................43

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4.14 LAND MARKETS..............................................................................................................44


4.15 ACCESS TO LAND FOR INVESTMENT.........................................................................45
4.16 MEASURES FOR SUPPORTING LAND RIGHTS...........................................................47
C. LAND ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT............................................49
CHAPTER 5: LAND RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION FRAMEWORK....................49
5.1 LAND RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM.................................................................49
5.2 LAND RIGHTS DELIVERY................................................................................................50
5.3 LAND RIGHTS DEMARCATION, SURVEY AND MAPPING.........................................52
5.4 LAND INFORMATION SYSTEM.......................................................................................53
5.5 LAND DISPUTES RESOLUTION.......................................................................................53
5.6 REVENUE GENERATION AND FISCAL FUNCTIONS...................................................55
CHAPTER 6: LAND USE AND LAND MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK............56
6.1 LAND USE PLANNING AND REGULATION...................................................................56
6.2 LAND QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY ASSURANCE..................................................58
6.3 NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT...........................59
6.4 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS....................................................................................................60
6.5 AGRICULTURE...................................................................................................................61
6.6 MANAGEMENT OF LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCES.......................................62
6.7 CLIMATE CHANGE............................................................................................................62
6.8 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR LAND MANAGEMENT.....................................63
D. REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS.................................65
CHAPTER 7: REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK..................65
7.1 AREAS OF COMPLIANCE..................................................................................................65
7.2 CONVERGENCE ON LAND LEGISLATION AND POLICY ...........................................66
7.3 MANAGEMENT OF TRANS-BOUNDARY RESOURCES................................................67
7.4 CROSS-BORDER POPULATION MOVEMENTS..............................................................67
7.5 TERRITORIAL – BORDER DISPUTES..............................................................................68
E. IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK...................................................................70
CHAPTER 8: FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND
POLICY ..........................................................................................................................70
8.1 COSTING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND POLICY................................................70
8.2 IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK.................................................................................71
8.3 PUBLIC EDUCATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE LAND POLICY......................72
8.4 STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION....................................................................................73
8.5 MONITORING, REVIEW AND EVALUATION................................................................73

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is Draft 4 of the National Land Policy, issued in September 2009. It consolidates and
synchronizes views and opinions received on Draft 3, issued in 2007. Draft 3 was subjected to
comprehensive and participatory countrywide stakeholder consultations through ten (10)
Regional Consultative Workshops, which covered all the districts of Uganda, and several Special
Interest Groups Consultative Workshops and other consultative exchanges. Draft 4 is a combined
outcome of all consultations which have taken place, on the National Land Policy, to date.
Additionally, views expressed in written memoranda and other submissions received from the
public in general, and specific special interest groups (in particular) have been incorporated.

Land is a highly volatile and political issue. In Uganda, land continues to be a critical factor, as it
is the most essential pillar of human existence and national development. Uganda has never had
a clearly defined and / or consolidated National Land Policy since the advent of colonialism in
the nineteenth century. This policy, therefore, seeks to consolidate a number of scattered
policies, which do exist on various aspects of the land question, but are diverse, sectoral and
inconclusive in many respects. Additionally, efforts have been made to offer politically and
socially acceptable and technically feasible solutions to Uganda’s land question, which has defied
legislative norms over the years.

The land question in Uganda has origins in the legacy of colonialism, wherein historical
injustices deprived communities of their ancestral lands. The result is legal dualism in the
property system, a multiplicity of tenure regimes, multiple rights and interests overlapping in the
same piece of land, and a heritage of evictions, arbitrary dispossession, land disputes and
conflicts. The phenomenon of land disputes and conflicts have broken across national boundaries,
spread to tribal and ethnic groupings, and merged with contemporary phenomena such as the
discovery of extensive deposits of mineral wealth to generate overwhelming uncertainties in land
rights resulting in tenure insecurity. In addition, land rights of vulnerable groups and land
resource-dependent communities are either inadequately protected or poorly enforced. As if to
aggregate the situation, land dispute resolution mechanisms have broken down and land justice
has become a nightmare to many to land holders.

In the current era, Uganda has to face the challenges of a rapidly growing population by devising
means to relieve pressure and competition over scarce land resources. Such an objective would
not be elusive to attain if land management was premised on a policy paradigm emphasizing
sustainable and productive land use and development. However, no such policy direction is in
place. Thus, land resources have been chronically under-utilized and inefficiently managed. In
the past, the Government has demonstrated continued and selective arbitrariness, inefficiency,
and lack of transparency in the exercise of trustee powers over public land, government land, and
public trust natural resources. Lastly, land administration is bedeviled by corruption, is
inadequately resourced, and is performing very poorly in service delivery. As performance
standards are eroded, the public is slowly losing confidence in the entire land administration

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system, which is increasingly becoming moribund and dysfunctional. The entire land sector is,
therefore, in dire need of urgent reforms.

To address these problems, the Government embarked on the process of formulation of a


National Land Policy, through a widely consultative process. The vision of the policy is: “A
reformed land sector contributing to the transformation of Uganda from a subsistence –
agrarian economy to a modern economy within 30 years”. The goal of the policy is to: “ensure
the sustainable utilization and management of Uganda’s land resources for wealth creation,
poverty reduction and overall socio-economic development”.

Policy proposals in this draft of the National Land Policy, among other things, seek to re-orient
the land sector in national development by articulating, management co-ordination between the
land sector and other productive sectors to enhance the contribution of the sector to social and
economic development of the country. The policy proposes a bifocal emphasis on ownership of
land and land use for orderly land development. It stipulates incentives for sustainable and
productive use, as well as fiscal measures to achieve the land management and land development
objectives.

Issues connected to lack of clarity and certainty of land rights in all the tenure regimes by
proposing measures to disentangle the multiple overlapping and conflicting rights over registered
land, have been squarely addressed in this policy. Historical land injustices which led to loss of
land rights by certain communities and vulnerable groups have been singled out for negotiation
and restitution where necessary. The draft policy has also addressed the complexity and
ambiguity in the constitutional and legal framework, governing the land relations between the
Government and the citizens (who are the owners of all land in Uganda). It is, thus, proposed
that citizens exercise their residual authority over land collectively through the Parliament. It is
further proposed that Government should hold and manage public land, government land and
public trust natural resources in strict conformity with the generally acceptable principles of the
public trust doctrine.

This draft policy also proposes measures to overhaul the moribund and dysfunctional land
administration and land management system and structures through the creation of a National
Land Agency or Authority and thus, divesting most of the land administration functions.
Essential reforms for stemming off escalating land conflicts and land evictions have necessitated
a recommendation for re-institution of Land Tribunals and creation of a special division in the
Magistrates Courts, and the High Court, for handling land disputes. Additionally, pressure for
resolution of disputes will be relieved by the formal acceptance of the dual operation of both
customary system and statutory system in land rights administration, land dispute resolution and
land management by legally empowering customary authorities to perform these functions.

Under this policy, the Ministry responsible for lands will continue to perform residual roles
including policy formulation and implementation, resource mobilization, standard setting and

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quality control, and monitoring and evaluation. Implementation of the Land Policy requires
building of in-house capacity. It is proposed that the National Land Policy Secretariat be
transformed into the Land Reform Unit to plan and implement the proposed measures and
interventions working in partnership with all other stakeholders.

By way structural contents, Chapter 1 presents the Introduction; Chapter 2 gives the Conceptual
Framework for the Land Policy while Chapter 3 covers the Constitutional and Legal Framework.
Chapter 4 presents the Land Tenure Framework; Chapter 5 the Land Rights Administration
Framework while Chapter 6 covers the Land Use and Management Framework. Chapter 7
overviews the Regional and International Framework for management of land and land-related
issues while Chapter 7 outlines the Framework for Implementation of the Land Policy.

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A. CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEXTUAL ISSUES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1. This is Draft 4 of the National Land Policy and consolidates and synchronizes views and
opinions received with regard to Draft 3. Draft 3 was subjected to comprehensive and
participatory countrywide stakeholder consultations through ten (10) Regional
Consultative Workshops which covered all the districts and several Special Interest
Groups Consultative Workshops and other consultative exchanges. Draft 4 is a combined
outflow of all consultations which have taken place to date and in it are also incorporated
views from written memoranda and submissions received from the public in general, and
specific special interest groups (in particular).

1.1 LAND IS THE MOST BASIC RESOURCE

2. Land is the basic resource in terms of the space it provides, the environmental resources it
contains and supports, and the 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 is a key factor in shaping individual and collective identity
through its history, the cultural expressions and idioms with which it is associated. It
influences spirituality and aesthetic values of all human societies. Land is perhaps, the
most essential pillar of human existence and national development.

3. The land sector is the bedrock of all development and is therefore expected to play a
crucial role in the development of other sectors and, especially, in provision of leverage
for efforts in poverty reduction, the promotion of governance and social justice, political
accountability and democratic governance, the management of conflict and ecological
stress and sustainable transformation of the economy as a whole.

1.2 DEFINITION OF THE LAND QUESTION IN UGANDA

1.2.1 Overview
4. Land is a highly volatile and political issue, and its control continues to be a critical
factor, of growing importance in Uganda’s development. A number of scattered policies
do indeed exist on various aspects of the land question, but these are diverse, sectoral and
inconclusive in many respects. This policy, therefore, seeks to consolidate the different
aspects of scattered policy that define the land question in Uganda, which often defy
legislative norm, to offer politically palatable and technically conclusive answers to
support land sector reforms.

5. Post-independence and recent attempts to settle the land question in the form the Land
Decree 1975, the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, and the Land Act 1998 failed to deal with
the fundamental issues underlying land tenure relations in Uganda with entirety. The
primary reason for this was not simply that the Constitution had set the parameters for the

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new land law. It was also because no clear policy principles existed to inform legislators
in the enactment of that law, a situation that the national land policy must rectify.
Therefore, in this policy key issues touching on (1) historical injustices and colonial
legacies, (2) contemporary issues, mainly arising from such legacies; and specifically, (3)
land use and land management issues are squarely addressed.

1.2.2 Historical Injustices and Colonial Legacy

Origins
6. The advent of colonialism left a historical legacy structured around land relations and
management. In the first place, colonialists introduced individualised ownership of
property rights in land previously held either communally or the basis of sovereign
trustees. In the process, an intricate system of political relationships was legitimized, a
new system of property ownership intended to supersede existing indigenous land rights
systems was super-imposed over the existing traditional systems of land management
thus a duality in systems of property rights management and a multiplicity of land tenure
systems. The time is now, for the policy to decide whether, a break from the colonial past
is necessary or the accepted future lays in individualized land tenures systems.

7. In other parts of the country outside the kingdom areas, customary tenure was left to
continue existing but the indigenous people were made tenants at will of the colonial
government and thus customary tenure was not given a chance to evolve properly. A
prudent decision has to be arrived at, whether to continue with multiple systems of land
ownership (tenure) or to aspire for one tenure regime, in addition, the duality of
management systems has to be harmonized, integrated or hybridized.

Mailo Land Tenure


8. Perhaps the most critical and challenging elements, courtesy of a colonial legacy, are to
do with disentangling the multiple tenure rights and interests, overlapping in the same
piece of land. At the time of creation of mailo and native freeholds, pre-existing private
interests of smallholders under customary tenure, mainly usufruct (land use) rights were
not legally recognized. This multi-layered structure of rights has become a defining
characteristic of the complexity of contemporary land relations which exist today. It has
been largely blamed for the escalating land conflicts and evictions in the central region.
For the policy, the question lies in determining who holds superior rights over the other,
the tenant or the landowner?

9. In addition, in case one of the interests has to be extinguished in order for the ancillary to
subsist, the terms and mechanisms for this dissolution and transition (including the costs)
must be defined in this policy. In the alternate, that the above multiple rights cannot be
resolved in the immediate, the relationship between the registered land owners and the
occupants, which has been the subject of legislative norm since 1928 under the Busuulu
and Envujjo Law and the Ankole and Toro Landlord and Laws, has to be further
considered to make it is harmonious and amicable.

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10. The landlord-tenant relationship as enacted under the Land Act, Cap 227 has become very
controversial and the controversy resolves mainly around two issues: the rights conferred
on the tenants and the rent payable. Given that the Land (Amendment) Bill, 2007 has
encountered resistance from some quarters and has, thus, evolved into a contentious issue
of its own, the policy has to review the structural problems which have continued to sour
the landlord / tenant relationship and defied all previously-attempted solutions. The
policy should come out with principles to guide legislation on the landlord/tenant
relationship on registered land.

The 9,000 Square Miles


11. The Buganda Kingdom has been making persistent demand for the return of its public
land, the so called ‘9000 square miles’, the 1500 square miles of forests, and the 160
square miles of official estates (including land at county and sub-county headquarters),
which land was confiscated by the central government in 1967 and vested in the Uganda
Land Commission.

12. The Traditional Rulers (Restitution of Assets and Properties) Act, 1993 which returned
immediately some assets and properties specified in the schedule of the Act, made
provision that the rest of properties and assets not included in the schedule to be returned
following negotiations between the government and the traditional rulers. This matter has
continued to strain the relationship between the government and the Buganda Kingdom as
it resurfaces from time to time. It is a matter that the land policy must fix in terms of
principles in the interest of achieving social harmony and social justice, given the
commitments under the 1993 Statute.

The Kibaale Land Question


13. The historical Kibaale land question, which should have been fixed by the 1964
Referendum on the counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi, has defied solutions time and
again. It became a very contentious issue in the Constituent Assembly (1993-95) as the
new Constitution of Uganda of 1995 was being debated. Over the years, the land issue in
Kibaale has further been complicated by Government resettlement schemes in 1973 and
1992 respectively, and the incessant immigration and settlement by other non-indigenous
Banyoro whom are referred to as “bafuruki”. What started off as a land question has
steadily translated into a political question as the immigrants started gaining political
ascendancy. The resentment has, in the recent past, raised political tensions and ethnic
conflicts, which from time to time have turned violent.

14. Currently, the essence of the problem is: indigenous Banyoro are worried that they may
never be able to rescue their ancestral land which is formally held by absentee Baganda
landlords in mailo tenure that is now increasingly being taken over by the “bafuruki”.
Additionally, public land in Kibaale land has suffered a similar fate. Since the passing of
the Land Act 1998, the Government has paid off some absentee landlords, but due to
limited budget allocations, the bigger part of the mailo land is yet to be bought out.

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Distribution and sharing of the re-possessed land is yet to be resolved. The Mubende
Banyoro Committee is arguing that the re-possessed land should only be granted to the
lawful occupants who are Banyoro. The land issue has been further complicated by the
immigrants encroaching massively on public land in the form of forest reserves.

1.2.3 Contemporary Issues

Gender and Development


15. Uganda is hailed for having some of the best policy, constitutional and legal frameworks
relating to gender, and particularly to women’s land rights. Despite having ratified several
international human rights instruments on gender equality and protection of women’s
land rights, the implementation and enforcement mechanisms are still lacking. Although
traditions, customs and practices which discriminate women in matters of access, use and
ownership of land have been outlawed by both the Constitution and the Land Act, the
practice does not acknowledge these changes. Culture and custom, for example, continue
to support inheritance of land rights to men and women’s rights continue to be tenuous, as
they are usually only enjoyed at the mercy of their male relatives.

16. Women activists have been lobbying unsuccessfully since the debate on the Land Bill in
1998 for a clause in the land law for spousal co-ownership of land. The fate of this clause
is not certain since the Domestic Relations Bill 2007 supposed to incorporate it has since
bounced back to the Executive, as some sections of the Bill became very controversial
and contentious when it was presented to Parliament. Furthermore, the marriage law and
succession law are still discriminatory against women. Efforts by civil society
organization in a test-case litigation, debarred sections of the laws, creating a legal
lacuna; thus, urgent reforms are needed.

Land Disputes and Conflicts


17. Land disputes and conflicts have become part of the definition of contemporary Uganda.
Trans-state boundary disputes are on the rise; there are now several boundary disputes or
conflicts between districts; there are several hot spots of ethnic land conflicts; conflicts
between pastoralists and agriculturalists are on the rise in some districts. Land disputes or
conflicts and evictions on registered land between the registered land owners and the
occupants are also on the rise.

18. In the recent past, there has been a wave of encroachment on protected areas mainly on
forest reserves, wetlands and national parks. Efforts of government agencies to protect
and conserve these vital ecosystems have often resulted in conflicts with the encroachers,
with some of the conflicts turning violent and fatal.

19. Dispute or conflict management systems, structures and mechanisms are now
overwhelmed. The prime challenge lies in tackling the root or structural causes of the
land disputes and conflicts, many of which revolve around historical injustices. The
current explosion is to a large extent a manifestation of frictions arising from unjust

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actions in the past which created uncertainty and insecurity in land rights. The other
challenge is to devise a conflict management framework and comprehensive land dispute
resolution mechanisms which are legitimate, accessible and cost-effective.

20. The rise in disputes and conflicts also needs to be understood within the increasing
population hence pressure on land, projected to be 30 million by 2008, growing at a rate
3.4% per annum and estimated to be 32.4 million for 2009, projected to shoot up to 39.3
million in the year 2015 and 54.9 million in 2025. With such enormous population
increases, the old rules are no longer sufficient to maintain cordial relations between users
and owners of land, the conflicts arise naturally due to competing uses to which land is
put.

21. The land policy, therefore, has to provide ways of relieving the pressure off the land,
because six times as many people are trying to survive on the land and natural resources
than there were 60 years ago. Alternatives lie in developing a vibrant services sector and
industrial sector to offer alternatives to rural agricultural land use. For the urban areas,
the alternative lies with an urbanization policy to provide the rationale for urban land use.
The ultimate solution lies in transforming the land sector to drive other productive sectors
in the economy.

Oil in the Albertine Graben


22. The recent discovery of oil and petroleum deposits in the Albertine Graben has generated
excitement in Uganda regarding the promise the resource may yield and the probable
economic windfall in the energy sub-sector, its contribution to national economy and
social well-being. Article 244 of the Constitution vests all minerals and petroleum in the
Government on behalf of the Republic of Uganda. Citizens of Uganda feel strongly that
these vital resources should instead be vested in the State in trust for the common good of
all citizens. This calls for the amendment of the Constitution.

23. As anticipated, the rush to secure land in these oil- rich areas is threatening communal
lands which are neither demarcated/surveyed nor titled. The policy should ensure that the
land rights of the indigenous communities are secured and protected against land
grabbing which has already been reported in these areas. Owners of land in the oil areas
need to formalize their land rights in order to benefit from sharing of royalties as provided
for under Article 244 of the Constitution.

24. In the event of oil companies and/or Government acquiring the land for production or
processing of petroleum, the owners of land need to have ascertainable interests in land to
benefit from the market value of the land. Likewise, it will be essential for oil companies
and/or government to acquire land for the processing of petroleum (processing facilities
and refineries) and transportation (oil and gas processing facilities and refineries). All
these tenure, compensation, displacement and resettlement issues have to be fixed within
the land policy framework.

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Land Rights and Pastoral Communities


25. Land rights of pastoral communities and ethnic minorities have registered exploitation for
a long time. Many pastoral communities and ethnic minorities have lost their land rights
to conservation projects, mainly national parks and other government projects, for
example government ranches. This has led to depletion of their resources or landlessness.
Privatization 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.

1.2.4 Issues of Land Use and Land Management

Ownership Rights
26. Although the recently-launched National Land Use Policy has made attempts to
harmonize aspects related to regulation of land use as regards standards and guidelines
for sustainable management of land resources, it was incapable, by its very nature, of
dealing with tenure issues that have bogged down most of the related land use sectors and
land-based natural resources sectors, thus making implementation of land use policies a
likely nightmare.

27. For instance, vesting wetlands in the State in trust for the citizens of Uganda, without
sorting out the ownership rights that existed at the time of vesting, bogged down the
implementation of the wetlands policy to some extent as some people and communities
still hold legal and valid titles to these wetlands resources. Enforcing wise land use will
not suffice, by itself, and evicting people and communities that legally own these
wetlands before the 1995 Constitution, without compensation, may amount to violation of
their land rights without due to the constitutionally-entrenched principle of “sanctity of
property”.

The Land Administration System


28. As corruption eats away performance standards and provides cracks for fraud to flourish,
land services delivery has become slow, cumbersome, frustrating and is too costly to the
public. The land administration system is now moribund and dysfunctional in many areas.
It is bedeviled by corruption, inadequately resourced and performing poorly in service
delivery. Decentralized services are very thin on the ground and have failed to perform to
their expectations. The dual system of land administration (statutory and
customary/traditional) needs to be harmonized and rationalized to remove the existing
gaps, conflicts, confusion and overlapping mandates.

Common Natural Resources


29. The 1995 Constitution created a trust over specified important natural resources (natural
lakes, rivers, wetlands, forest reserves, game reserves and national parks) by vesting them
in the State to hold in trust and protect for the common good of all citizens of Uganda.
The legal effect of these provisions was to remove these important natural resources from
the absolute ownership of the government and vested them in the public realm. The Land

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Act explicitly prohibits the Government, or local government, from leasing out or
otherwise alienating any of these natural resources, except by way of a concession,
licence or permit.

30. The Ugandan public has generally been concerned about how the State has misused and
abused trust beneficiary relationship. In the recent past, the State has attempted to
abrogate the fiduciary relationship between the State and the citizens created under the
Constitution and reaffirmed under the Land Act. The public has been concerned about
the abuse of the trust by the State and the general administrative abuses in the natural
resources management. The policy has to fix identifiable loopholes and any existing
contradictions in the natural resources management laws and provide for use and
management of these public trust resources on the basis of well-established principles of
the public trust doctrine.

Land for Investment


31. The Government has a duty to attract private investment both domestic and foreign, into
productive sectors of the economy. This duty includes creating an enabling investment
climate, including facilitating investors to access land. One of the major concerns in the
land sector today, is the allocation of government land, public land, and natural resources
held by the State in trust for the citizens, for private investment. Such land allocations
have taken place amidst an environment of incoherent and/or non-existent and non-
implemented policies or non-transparent systems and processes. This in effect, weakened
institutions governing use and management of these lands and natural resources.

32. In most cases, the allocations have not considered the ecological, environmental,
economic and social impacts, as such allocations have resulted in displacement of the
vulnerable land and natural-resource-dependent communities, whose rights of land
access, food security and livelihoods are lost. The primary question for the land policy is
how to achieve objective of private sector investment promotion without compromising
land rights of the vulnerable sections of society as well as the environment. Secondly,
what safeguards should be put in place to ensure that for any land held by the
government, or in trust by the State, allocation of such land is carried out in a transparent
and accountable manner and in public interest?

Idle Land-Holding
33. Currently, plenty of land lies idle and undeveloped both in rural and urban areas of
Uganda. In effect, there is no urge, on the part of holders of such land, to develop it
because they are not compelled to do so. At the same time, many people in Uganda do
not have enough (or any) land, even though they may have the ability to invest in its
development.

34. In the course of receipt of submissions from the public, it was evident that many people
were opposed to the practice of holding large tracks of land for prestige or speculative
purposes while serious developers, or landless people are without land. In order to

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compel the holders of such idle and undeveloped land, to put it to use, the matter of land
taxation needs to be explored. However, in furtherance of this land use obligation, great
care has to be taken not to levy taxes on those who preserve part of their land for the
purpose of protecting and conserving the environment.

35. For the National Land Policy, principles to do with taxation of land need to be squarely
addressed. For instance, would it be all land to be taxed or would it be only idle or un-
utilized land, vacant land, or un-developed land? In addition, such land for taxation
purposes would take into account due regard for social protection and disability.
Furthermore, it has to be discerned whether such a tax would be effective in regulating
speculative accumulation of land through a national tax or a local government tax.

1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY

Overview
36. A national land policy framework is essential for the sustainable management of land
resources, since it is known that the majority of Ugandans are dependent on land for
employment and survival. It is crucial for an integrated and effective, system responding
to a wide variety of intra-sectoral variables between the land sector and other productive
sectors in the economy, to be in place.

37. Without a comprehensive policy, it is a challenge to confront the fact that land is a factor
of production influenced by and interacting with macro-level policy processes and
strategies, whose strategic management is important for significant and sustainable
economic growth and social transformation. The rationale for a national land policy in
Uganda, therefore, rests on the reasons below.

Isolated Land “Policies”


38. Firstly, isolated policies, not fully integrated in one comprehensive document and policy
gaps on special issues of importance to the land sector, do exist in Uganda. Land issues
feature in documents on agricultural policy, in environmental policy, in natural resources
management policy and legislation, in policy for private sector development and
industrialization, housing, and transport infrastructure. Having various sources of policy
without having a consolidated policy document has led to a situation in which different
aspects of land policy conflicting as regards decisions and laws.

39. In addition, the regulatory framework remains ambiguous on many sector-level issues
and the modalities it prescribes for solutions to problems identified in each sub-sector
quite often overlap, leading to grave administrative conflicts and bureaucratic competition
for responsibility and resources on the ground. There is, therefore, a need to review all
policies relating to land and to harmonize them, within the framework of a common
horizontal denominator because of their sub-sectoral foci, they have been enacted in
response to isolated policy sectoral demands.

Historical Complexities

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40. Secondly, land issues in their historical complexity do not appear to have been
satisfactorily resolved despite numerous pronouncements in the land sector. The
Constitution of Uganda 1995, among other things, brought in fundamental reforms in the
ownership, tenure and management of land. It provides important basic policy principles,
which were expanded upon in the Land Act 1998.

41. However, substantial ambiguity within the Constitution and legislation as to the content
and viability of property rights under various tenure categories is still apparent, despite
the fact that the Land Act 1998, was expected to resolve them. It would also appear as if
the Land Act was enacted without exhausting all the critical issues; thus, the Land Act
itself has become a major problem which policy must seek to resolve.

Land Degradation
42. Thirdly, land degradation continues to be a serious phenomenon within Uganda mostly in
the highlands and the cattle corridor. Although growth has been registered in some parts
of the country, this has come at great cost to the quality of land resources. It is estimated,
for example, that land deterioration accounts for over 80% of the annual costs of
environmental damage, in Uganda, a state which the country can hardly afford. In
addition, land reserved for conservation purposes continue to pose challenges as regards,
bio-diversity protection and heritage preservation. Demands exerted by population growth
and settlement expansion have placed wildlife resources, catchment areas, forests and
wetlands at risk despite the existence of legislation on these issues.

Land is a Basic Developmental Resource


43. Fourthly, acknowledging the centrality of land in the overall social and economic
development process in Uganda calls for the development of an integrated policy for the
land sector and the identification of effective inter-linkages between the land and other
productive sectors, hence the focus on regulating use and development of land. However,
the current structure of the land tenure systems in Uganda, which concentrates on
property rights per se, should not blur the necessity for a more fundamental objective that
is to shape the nature of the land use systems, by which the diverse needs for human
settlement, production and conservation can be harmonized. This cannot be done without
a comprehensive land sector policy nor can it be suspended any longer.

Paradigm Shift from Mere Ownership to Development


44. Fifthly, there is a need to re-focus the discourse on land reform, from over-emphasis on
property rights per se, to its essential resource value in development. This is critical, as
land resources remain chronically under-utilized and inefficiently managed at present.
The continued growth of the country will require a coherent and pragmatic approach to
land use planning and management. This can only be attained by confronting a number of
challenges.

45. These challenges relate to land both as property and as a resource that is fundamental to
economic development in Uganda:

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(i) As property, the challenge is to design and universalize a system of tenure


that would instill confidence in individuals, communities, and institutions which
own or desire to accumulate land as an asset. The direct implication of such an
undertaking is the requirement to deal with multiple tenure regimes, encumbered
with a complex web of interlocking and overlapping rights on land and tenure
relations drawing legitimacy from both indigenous and statutory law.

(ii) As a development resource, agricultural land in Uganda has not always been
optimally and sustainably used. The primary reason is that indigenous agriculture
was always and still is neglected by the State, a fact which continues to contribute
to the under-development of that sector. Ever since the colonial period, agricultural
“policy” has continued to be structured around peasant farming. This needs to
change and be guided to free the land for extensive agricultural production, by
creating alternatives in the services and industrial sectors.

International Obligations
46. Lastly, Uganda is a party to a large body of international and regional conventions, treaties
and declarations dealing with human rights issues, human settlements, land and
environmental governance, and shared aquatic, terrestrial and other trans-boundary
resources which require adherence to specific principles in the management of the land
sector. These instruments call for establishment of an international framework for land use
and land management and environmental governance with countries party to them, which
Uganda is expected to comply with.

47. Among issues identified by these instruments is the need to:


(i) avert poverty and extreme hunger;
(ii) manage global climate change through domestic policies and strategies;
(iii) guarantee national food security;
(iv) conserve biodiversity, and to ensure environmental sustainability;
(v) resolve resource conflicts arising from trans-boundary movements of
population and animal species;
(vi) ensure gender equality and equity;
(vii) respect and protect human rights.

1.4 LAND POLICY FORMULATION AND CONSULTATIVE PROCESS

48. The Government of Uganda initiated the process for development of the National Land
Policy in 1983 under the Agricultural Policy Committee of the Agricultural Secretariat in
the central Bank of Uganda. It noted that successful policy on land is that which recognizes
how traditional land tenure has evolved and guides future evolution by encouraging
changes that are beneficial and preventing changes that are harmful.

49. Appointment of the Constitutional Review Commission, in 1988, more popularly known as
the Odoki Commission, surpassed the work of the Agricultural Policy Committee. It made

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broad recommendations for constitutional reforms, which lay firm policy principles
regarding what constitutes a good land tenure policy in Uganda. The most fundamental of
changes out of the work of the Odoki Commission is enshrined in Article 237 (1) of the
1995 Constitution, which, in break from the past, declared land to belong to the citizens of
Uganda, making Uganda the first State in Sub-Saharan Africa to vest its “radical title” in its
Citizens. Extensive changes were also introduced in land administration and land dispute
resolution.

50. The 1998 Land Act, legislatively actualized most of the reforms provided for in the 1995
Constitution, while the Land Sector Strategic Plan (LSSP) 2001-2011 provided the
implementation framework for execution of sector wide reforms in the land sector. One of
the strategic objectives under LSSP was the development of a national land policy to serve
as a systematic frame work for addressing the role of land in national development, land
ownership, distribution, utilization, alienability, management and control.

51. In 2001, a National Land Policy Working Group (NLPWG) was instituted under the
Ministry responsible for lands to steer the policy-making process. The NLPWG produced
an Issues Paper for the National Land Policy in 2002. Simultaneously, the Government of
Uganda also published the Constitutional Review Report by Ssempebwa Commission in
2003, which intensely implored, the adoption of a comprehensive land policy to harmonize
the diverse needs for human settlement, production and conservation, by adopting best
practice in land utilization for purposes of growth in the agricultural, industrial, and
technological sectors taking into account population trends, without losing control over the
structuring of land tenure systems.

52. Taking note of the opinions of the Odoki Commission, the Ssempebwa Commission, the
first draft of the National Land Policy was produced in 2005, circulated and discussed
amongst the NLPWG and professionals in the land sector. The same was subsequently
progressed into a Draft Three, which was circulated for public debate and structured
consultations in 2006. Consultations, aimed to obtain stakeholder inputs and consensus, on
basis of Draft Three of the National Land Policy were carried out. Memoranda and
submissions were received from various institutions, including civil society organizations
and Ugandans in the diaspora. Government agencies, charged with regulation of land use
and planning, and departments responsible for enforcement of land laws, and the
maintenance of law and order, were also consulted.

53. While consultations were still on-going, the Government of Uganda gazetted the Land Act
(Amendment) Bill 2007 as a stop-gap measure to curb escalating land conflicts and
evictions due to public outcry on land grabbing, forceful evictions and grave associated
crimes. The Bill drew extensive public comments from various parts of the country, and
was wrongly viewed as a scheme to grab land.

1.5 MAJOR DIRECTIONS OF REFORMS IN THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY

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54. Given the land question in Uganda, the national land policy principally tackles the re-
orientation of the land sector to fulfilling its logically function to state advancement by re-
examining the conceptually deficiency in land management, which is based on ownership
rather than development, hence the need to shift emphasis from ownership of land to access
to land for sustainable use and development. The policy, therefore, addresses the lack of
management co-ordination between land and other productive sectors.

55. Reforms are also directed towards the creation of clarity and certainty of land rights in the
four tenure categories which in most instances has led to tenure insecurity. In so doing,
aspects to do with complexity and ambiguity in the constitutional and legal framework
relating to ownership, control and management of land resources are dealt with. In another
dimension, tenure insecurity is also driven by overlapping and multiple rights which the
policy seeks to conclusively resolve.

56. Steps in this direction take note of the increasing pressure on land resources due to rapid
population growth, severe deterioration in land quality and degradation of land resources
due to unsustainable land use practices and encroachment on forests and wetlands and
chronic under-utilization of agricultural and low agricultural productivity. Reforms also
aim to restore confidence in public trustee, by defining the rules of engagement to curtail
that abuse of public trusteeship over public trust resources (vested in the state under Article
237 of the Constitution), government land and public land. Land policy reforms also seek
to address historical injustices which led to loss of land rights by certain communities and
vulnerable groups.

57. Change is also necessary with regard to uncontrolled, improperly planned and chaotic
urbanization with mushrooming informal settlements all over the country. Modification
and revision of the poor regulatory enforcement mechanisms in the land sector, land-use
sectors and natural resources/environmental sector is at heart of change in land use and land
development.

58. The policy also seeks to overhaul the moribund and dysfunctional land administration and
land management systems and structures (which are characterized by inadequate capacity
for service delivery, corruption, and fraud). In addition, measures are taken to revamp weak
and inefficient mechanisms for fair, timely and affordable land dispute resolution
mechanisms. These structural changes are crucial to stemming the escalating land conflicts
and land evictions throughout the country. Dualism in land tenure and land administration
systems (customary and statutory) has led to conflicts and serious deficiencies in land
delivery services, hence the need to harmonize the systems.

59. Finally, in this National Land Policy, effective and structured response mechanisms to all
of Uganda’s land-related regional and international commitments and obligations are
addressed.

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1.6 KEY ELEMENTS OF THE DRAFT NATIONAL LAND POLICY

60. The critical policy issues covered by the draft National Land Policy have been clustered
below by the:
(i) Conceptual framework detailing strategic focus of the National Land Policy and the
role of the land sector in national development;
(ii) Constitutional and legal status of land resources;
(iii) Land tenure framework;
(iv) Land rights administration framework;
(v) Land use and Land Management framework;
(vi) Regional and International Policy framework; and
(vii) Land Policy Implementation Framework.

61. Policy is, essentially, a system of agreed principles. In this document, for each issue
identified, a brief statement of the problem is made, followed by a policy statement (or
statements), and then proposed policy implementation strategies.

62. In arriving at each policy statement and strategy, the draft policy has taken into account the
following criteria:
(i) analysis and synthesis of views received from the consultation process;
(ii) professional suitability and workability of the policy options proposed and
feasibility for implementation, including the possibility of outputs jeopardizing the
process of socio-economic development of Uganda as an entity;
(iii) analysis being evidence-based and cost efficiency in implementation;
(iv) consistency with the vision, goal and objectives of the national land policy;
(v) principles in the existing legal and regulatory framework, which have been tested
and conform to the vision, goal and objectives of this policy;
(vi) international “best practices” from:
(a) approximation to regional (especially East African) practices as well as
African Union Guidelines to Member States on formulating of Land
Policies;
(b) past and current experiences of other countries;
(c) Land-related regional and international conventions to which Uganda is
a party to; as well as;
(vii) Expert opinion.

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CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE LAND POLICY

Background Statement
63. This framework is to do with the contribution of the land sector to overall economic
development and poverty reduction in Uganda. It is based on the acknowledged role of
land and centrality of the land sector in social and economic development, although this is
often never fully articulated as the leverage for economic growth and employment
creation, across all productive sectors.

Problem Statement
64. Since independence of Uganda (in 1962), a deficiency in articulating the position of the
land sector in national development, by detailing a shared vision, goal, objectives and
principles for the systematic re-alignment of land reforms towards sustainable
management of land and its resources, has persisted. In addition, this framework has to
provide the direction, reform for all productive sectors, in utilization of land as the
resource base for their productivity through effective cross-sectoral linkages.

2.1 VISION OF THE POLICY

65. The Vision of this policy is: “A reformed land sector contributing to the
transformation of Uganda from a subsistence – agrarian economy to a modern
economy within 30 years”.

66. Uganda aspires to transit from a subsistence agro-based (agrarian) economy to a modern
economy that is driven by industrialization, urbanization and a vibrant services sector.
This vision is driven by the acknowledgement of the centrality of the land sector as bed-
rock for all development, since it is the leverage across other productive sectors in
economic growth and employment creation. The reforms envisaged in the national land
policy will not only relieve pressure off the land, but also contribute to urbanization,
industrialization and overall development in the services sector.

2.2 POLICY GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

67. The goal of the National Land Policy is: “to ensure sustainable utilization and
management of Uganda’s land resources for wealth creation, poverty reduction and
overall socio-economic development”.

68. The objectives of the National Land Policy are to:


(i) stimulate the contribution of the land sector to overall socio- economic
development, wealth creation and poverty eradication in Uganda;
(ii) harmonize and streamline the complex tenure regimes in Uganda for equitable
access to land and security of tenure;
(iii) clarify the complex and ambiguous constitutional and legal framework for
sustainable management and stewardship of land resources;

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(iv) resolve historical injustices to achieve balanced growth and social equity;
(v) reform and streamline land rights administration to ensure efficient, effective and
equitable delivery of land services;
(vi) ensure sustainable utilization and management of environmental, natural and
cultural resources on land for national socio-economic development
(vii) ensure planned, environmentally-friendly, affordable and well-distributed human
settlements for both rural and urban areas, including infrastructure development;
(viii) harmonize all land-related policies and laws, and strengthen institutional capacity
at all levels of Government for sustainable management of land resources.

2.3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

69. The principles below underpinned and guide the national land policy:
(i) Land policy must guarantee the right to own land either individually or in
association with others;
(ii) Land policy must address all the multiple social, cultural, economic, ecological and
political functions of land;
(iii) Land must be productively used and sustainably managed for increased
contribution to economic productivity and commercial competitiveness;
(iv) Use and development of land must contribute to poverty reduction, as land is a
basic resource central to the overall development agenda of Uganda;
(v) Access to land by all Ugandans must reflect concern with equity and justice
irrespective of gender; whether through the market or through any system of
inheritance, customary or statutory;
(vi) Management of land resources must contribute to democratic governance, peace-
making and security, by nurturing institutions and procedures for resolution of land
disputes and conflicts;
(vii) Management of land resources must mitigate environmental effects, reverse decline
in soil quality and land quality;
(viii) Land policy must guide the development of policies in other productive sectors; it
is an important determinant of the health and vitality of all sectors and sub-sectors
which depend on land for productivity;
(ix) Land sector operations must be fully costed, financed and provided with adequate
support services infrastructure;
(x) Civil society organizations and the private sector must work hand in hand with
government actors to achieve the vision, goal and objectives of the land sector.

2.4 THE LAND SECTOR IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2.4.1 Refocusing to sustainable and optimal use of land

70. Since 1900 to-date, almost (if not all) legislation on land in Uganda has focused on
ownership-cum-property rights. It is necessary to have as a feature, land development in
addition to legislating over land ownership in order to enhance the role of the land sector

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in national development, by granting purposive ownership of land oriented towards


optimal land use and sustainable land development.

71. There is need to ensure a gradually shift from practicing subsistence agriculture to
commercial agriculture, so that an estimated 31% of peasants, who live on less than one
dollar per day, can come out of poverty using land as their major input resource. This
implies the integration of land use regulation, transformation of land users with greater
emphasis on urbanization, and orientation to commercial agriculture. It requires enhanced
land planning, land management and enforcement of land use regulation throughout the
country.

Policy Statement
72. The Land Sector shall increase its contribution to economic productivity and
commercial competitiveness, by facilitating land use regulation and land
development for wealth creation and overall socio-economic development.

Strategies
73. Measures will be put in place to:
(i) fully integrate the land sector into the overall development planning of the country,
through identification and articulation of effective linkages within the national
planning framework;
(ii) sort out the land ownership rights, interests and issues as the starting point before
proceeding to development aspects;
(iii) enhance access to land for large-scale commercial investments without prejudicing
security of tenure for the vulnerable groups;
(iv) design appropriate public policies and incentives to improve the efficiency of small-
holder farming, through the use of production intensive technologies that do not
jeopardize the environment;
(v) design appropriate public policies and incentives to deal with labour and credit for
agricultural productivity;
(vi) have periodic audit of land needs to ensure that the livelihoods of the poor are not
compromised;
(vii) put in place measures to manage rapid population growth so as to relieve pressure
on land resources;
(viii) facilitate central government agencies and local governments to adopt and enforce
standardized land use planning and land development practices for orderly
development;
(ix) strengthen community level institutions for effective management of land and the
imposition of punitive tax to prevent unproductive accumulation of land, curb land
speculation and put unutilized land to production;
(x) Ensure that the poor are protected from activities which deny them access to land
resources and the infrastructure necessary for productive use.

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2.4.2 Integration of the land sector with other productive sectors

74. Land is an important determinant of the health and vitality of sectors and sub-sectors
which depend on it for productivity. Among these are agriculture, livestock, energy,
minerals, water, wildlife, forestry, and human settlements. It is expected to play a vital
role in the development of other sectors by providing leverage for efforts aimed at
poverty reduction, the promotion of governance and social justice, political accountability
and democratic governance, the management of conflict and ecological stress and the
modernization of the economy as whole.

75. Land, in Uganda, needs to be managed as a basic cross-sectoral resource, through strong
and cost effective cross-sectoral institutionalization. This requires the integration of the
land sector fully into the overall macro level planning, through identification of effective
linkages with other productive sectors in order to ensure increased contribution of land to
economic growth and development as well as commercial competitiveness.

Policy Statements
76. (a) Policy reforms will ensure that the land sector facilitates growth in other
productive sectors and makes an effective contribution to national
development.

(b) Land in Uganda will be managed as a basic resource, through effective cross-
sectoral institutional arrangements

Strategies
77. Measures will be put in place to ensure that:
(i) detailed sectoral and sub-sectoral policies and management systems consistent
with the provisions of the national land policy are developed and operationalized;
(ii) the central government and local governments are in a position to provide the land
resources required for development in all productive sectors of the economy;
(iii) developments in productive sectors do not lead to the deterioration of the quality of
land resources;
(iv) continual review of performance of land and other related productive sectors is
conducted to monitor their mutual contribution to and impact on each other; and
take into consideration local, regional and global changes with regard to natural
resource management;
(v) sufficient resources for the development and management of the land sector and all
related productive sub-sectors are constantly available;
(vi) civic education and motivation of stakeholders and professionals in land
management and administration are undertaken for successful integration of the
land sector with other sectors.

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CHAPTER 3: THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Background Statement
78. This framework concerns itself with the sovereign powers of the State in relation to land
as contained in the: radical title, eminent domain (compulsory acquisition), police power
of the State, the doctrine of trusteeship, and the power of taxation. It aims to clarify
ambiguities in constitutional provisions relating to land that articulate the role of the state
in land management. The land question in Uganda has always been at the centre of the
constitutional and legal discourse. The result is that land issues are mired in a bed of
complex constitutional structures and processes, drawing legitimacy from historical as
well as contemporary political exigencies.

Problem Statement
79. Over the years, the central government and local governments have demonstrated
systematic arbitrariness, inefficiency, and lack of transparency in the exercise of these
powers, at the risk of some communities becoming landless and in continuous land
conflicts with their neighbors. The State, therefore, has become both an inefficient land
manager as well as a predator on land which belongs to ordinary land users.

80. In particular, the constitutional and legal framework lacks clarity with respect to:
(i) the implications of shifting radical title to land from the State to the citizens of
Uganda at large;
(ii) the proper role of the central government and local governments in land use and
development control (the police power of the state);
(iii) land taxation;
(iv) the scope and exercise of the power of compulsory acquisition of land;
(v) management and use of public land and government land; and
(vi) public trusteeship over natural resources (the public trust doctrine)

3.1 RESIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER LAND

81. Although the Constitution 1995 and the Land Act 1998, by vesting land in the citizens of
Uganda at large, resolved an important historical anachronism in the land law of country
namely, the location of radical title, it also created serious ambiguities in how land as a
property is dealt with1.

82. First, it not entirely clear how the citizens of Uganda, individually or collectively, can
assert residual authority against the State, local authorities, and community governance
organs in respect of land which is not owned by any body or any authority. Second, in
what manner can the citizens collectively exercise the residual sovereignty over all land?
Third, authority to allocate land, which the law vests in District Land Boards, does not
appear to rest on any recognized reversionary title. Indeed, citizens of Uganda are
beginning to question the legal foundation and proprietary of these powers. Fourth, on
1
The sovereignty of land as national territory is effectively dealt with in the Constitution and is not subject of focus for this
policy.

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what grounds does the government continue to guarantee “any title to land” when the
radical title is vested in the citizens.

Policy Statement
83. The radical title in Uganda shall continue to vest in the Citizens of Uganda. It shall
be exercised by the Parliament of Uganda as a trustee of the Citizens of Uganda.

Strategies
84. Measures will be taken to:
(i) clarify by amending the Constitution of Uganda article 237 (1) and the Land Act
227, to name the persona to exercise this power on behalf of the Citizens of Uganda
as the Parliament of Uganda under procedures prescribed in an Act of Parliament;
(ii) ensure that the District Land Boards continue to hold the reversionary interest in
trust for the Citizens of Uganda on terms and conditions to be prescribed by
Parliament and shall be accountable to the Parliament of Uganda;
(iii) guarantee “any title to land” in Uganda through an Act of Parliament.

3.2 THE POWER OF COMPULSORY ACQUISITION

85. The Constitution empowers the Government or a Local Government to acquire land in
public interest provided the acquisition is necessary for public use or in the interest of
defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public health and subject to
prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation, prior to the taking of possession or
acquisition of the property.

86 In the past, the power of compulsory acquisition has not been exercised responsibly and
strictly in the public interest, in all cases. It has also been extended to local governments
without sufficient capacity to exercise it. In addition, Government cannot legally acquire
land compulsorily in the interest of physical planning or to resettle the landless and yet
these are legitimate grounds for compulsory acquisition of land

Policy Statements
87. (a) The State shall exercise the power of compulsory acquisition responsibly and
strictly in public interest, with approval of the Parliament of Uganda as a
trustee for the Citizens of Uganda.

(b) The scope for exercise of the power of compulsory acquisition shall be
extended to include resettlement, physical planning, and orderly
development.

Strategies
88. The Constitution, the Land Act and the Land Acquisition Act will be amended to:
(i) expand the scope of the power of compulsory acquisition to include acquisition of
land in the interest of resettlement, orderly development and physical planning;

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(ii) limit the power to the Central Government which will exercise this power in
consultation with the persona or agency holding the radical title on behalf of the
citizens of Uganda;
(iii) prescribe a uniform method for the exercise of the power of compulsory acquisition
and the payment of prompt, adequate and fair compensation irrespective of tenure
category;
(iv) establish mechanisms to develop the capacity of local governments in respect of
conditions and terms for compensation, before extending the exercise of this power
to them;
(v) prescribe, in a set of regulations and guidelines, the roles and responsibilities of the
different state organs and agencies in the exercise of this power.

89. Formulate a National Resettlement Policy.

3.3 PUBLIC REGULATION OF LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT

90. It is the residual duty of the State to ensure that the way a land-owner uses his/her land
does not sabotage the public welfare and/or orderly development. This doctrine of the
police power of the state suppresses or limits undesirable land use without revoking
ownership of the land. This power is derived from the Constitution (Articles 242 and
245) and it is extended to local governments. Over the years, the State and local
authorities have been inefficient and lacked transparency in the exercise of this power.

91. Four issues arise:


(i) The State has hardly exercised this power responsibly and strictly (in the public
interest or otherwise).
(ii) This power has been extended to local governments, without adequate guidelines or
planning framework at the district or regional levels.
(iii) The very nature of this power implies its exercise is split across sub-sectors of
natural resources, thus a complex, internally-fragmented, conflictual, bureaucratic
and highly-centralized system without effective coordination and cross-sectoral
institutionalization.
(iv) The split across the different sub-sectors is also blamed for inefficient enforcement
and widespread disregard of legislation and regulations on land use/physical
planning regulations, environment, and natural resources throughout the country. In
addition regulations have been limited to urban areas instead of a uniform
application.

Policy Statement
92. The State shall exercise the power of public regulation of land use, strictly in the
interest of socio-economic welfare and development.

Strategies
93. Measures will be taken to:

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(i) prescribe guidelines for the exercise of the police power by the Central
Government and local governments for purposes of harmony in application by all
actors;
(ii) ensure the use of police power by state agencies takes account of sub-sectoral
policies and laws on land use, the environment and natural resources;
(iii) Review existing legislations expressing the police power of the state to conform
with the provisions of the national land policy;
(iv) Educate the public on the need for public regulation of land use and overall goals
and merits of public regulation;
(v) Ensure compliance with the laws and regulations for land use, both in urban and
rural areas by securing compliance through incentives and rewards as well as
through sanctions and penalties.

3.4 LAND TAXATION

94. Currently, land taxation is the least developed of the sovereign powers of the State
provided for in the Constitution of Uganda. There is no traditionally known land tax on
idle and/or undeveloped land; for both rural and urban land, except for property
rates/service rates in local governments for urban areas.

95. The necessity for land taxation as a policy initiative rests on the need to release land to
users, by compelling owners who cannot develop it, to release idle or undeveloped or
under developed land. Taxation will compel the holders of idle or undeveloped land to
think of ways to develop their land.

Policy Statement
96. The State shall introduce a land tax on idle and/or un-utilized land and / or under
utilized land to be administered by local governments to induce land utilization and
deter speculative accumulation of land.

Strategies
97. The government will put in place measures to:
(i) introduce a legal framework for effective and efficient land tax to be
administered by local governments;
(ii) determine land eligible for taxation through an audit and inventory;
(iii) design and implement incentives to improve the ability of land owners to
comply with land taxation by promoting the use of leaseholds;
(iv) exempt some categories of land on the basis of:
a. minimum acreage for rural and urban areas;
b. social protection and equity; and
c. disability.

3.5 PUBLIC TRUSTEESHIP OVER NATURAL RESOURCES

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98. The 1995 Constitution of Uganda, under Article 237(1)(b) vests natural lakes, rivers,
wetlands, forest reserves, game reserves, national parks and any land to be reserved for
ecological and tourist purposes in the State in trust for the people to protect for the
common good of all citizens. The Land Act, under section 44 prohibits the leasing or
otherwise alienation of any of the above natural resources. Government can only grant
concessions or licenses or permits in respect of these natural resources.

99. The key concern is to eliminate the grey line between “trustee” and “owner” as a trustee
simply holds the corpus of the trust while exercising fiduciary duties to the citizens of
Uganda who are the beneficiaries of the trust. Hence:
(i) There is need to specify how the Citizens of Uganda may obtain or share access to
these resources.
(ii) The Citizens of Uganda, as owners of these important resources, question the
adequacy of the current legal framework and safeguards, under which so much
administrative abuse and political interference in the management and use of these
resources, have occasioned extensive degeneration of these vital natural resources.
(iii) There are no regulations or guidelines to govern the management and use of these
resources by the State as the trustee, including accountability and transparency
principles; this has resulted in rampant breach of the public trust doctrine.
(iv) Rules that delineate the rights, roles, obligations of the citizens and mandates of
government and government institutions, are at present incoherent and need to be
systematized.

Policy Statement
100. The State shall manage and protect the natural resources held under public trust for
the common good of all the Citizens of Uganda.

Strategies
101. Legislature reforms and other measure will be put in place to:
(i) extend the scope of land resources to be held by the State in trust for the common
good of the citizens to include sensitive ecosystems, marginal lands and hilltops;
(ii) specify, in an Act of Parliament, the terms and conditions upon which the state or
its established agencies shall manage and use these resources in conformity with
well-established principles of the public trust doctrine to stem abuse in the exercise
of these powers;
(iii) review the regulatory framework for natural resources to clarify and specify
guidelines on who may have access to what natural resources products and define
the rights of access/use guaranteed to the communities living in such areas;
(iv) ensure that the Government as public trustees for these specified natural resources
protects, manages and develops these resources sustainably for the common good
of all the citizens;
(v) clarify, in an Act of Parliament, criteria for gazettement and degazettement of the
natural resources held in trust;

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(vi) ensure large-scale investment decisions and activities do not compromise the
sustainable management and conversation of natural resources;
(vii) institutionalize mechanisms, for the joint management and sharing of benefits from
natural resources between the trustee and beneficiaries;
(viii) institutionalize mechanisms for the joint and participatory management of natural
resources with communities owning or contiguous to land in or over which these
resources are situated.

3.6 GOVERNMENT LAND AND PUBLIC LAND

102. The Uganda Land Commission has powers under the Constitution to hold and manage
any land vested in or acquired by the Government (including land acquired abroad). The
exact location of such land and its tenure status, are not, specified nor do mechanisms
exist for identifying or adjudicating such land. It is to be assumed that such land includes
land used by government agencies to perform core functions of government, use by
government agencies, road reserves and land carrying public infrastructure.

103. There is no clear distinction in the legislation between government land and public land,
thus four issues arise:
(i) There are no clear regulations and guidelines to control the management and use,
including disposal of these lands in the Constitution or in the laws of Uganda.
(ii) Government has been disposing of government land and public land to investors
and individuals as if they are one and the same without regard to the public
interest and the principles of transparency and accountability. Government
presently deals with government land and public land as if the two estates are held
for the beneficial interest of government as an institution.
(iii) District Land Boards operate as if they are owners of the public land which they
hold whereas, in fact, they “hold it in trust” this land on behalf of the citizens of
Uganda.
(iv) Lastly, the status of land reserved for refugee settlements is not clear in policy and
law and it is a source of conflict between the government and neighboring
communities, as well as between the refugees and the citizens.

Policy Statements
104. (a) As a matter of principle, a clear distinction is hereby drawn between public
land and government land.

(b) Government land shall be, land vested in or acquired by the government in
accordance with the Constitution, or acquired by the government abroad.
Government land includes all land lawfully held, occupied and/or used by
government and its agencies, including parastatal bodies for the purposes of
carrying out the core functions of government. Government shall include
central and local governments.

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(c) Public land shall be, land reserved or held and used for a public purpose,
which includes public open spaces and land on which public infrastructure is
housed. It also includes land which is not owned by any person or authority
(Article 241(1) (a) of the Constitution) and land with a reversionary interest
held by the District Land Boards which was granted in leasehold by a former
controlling authority (as per Section 59 of the Land Act).

Strategies
105. Through an Act of Parliament, Government shall:
(i) differentiate between government land and public land;
(ii) define the manner in which government or local government will hold and manage
such land taking into account the principles of public trusteeship, transparency and
accountability;
(iii) define the terms and conditions under which such land may be acquired, used or
otherwise disposed by the government and local governments;
(iv) enable the State to re-possess public land or government land, “nibbled away” or
given away in an illegal or irregular manner

106. Government will through legislative and other measures:


(i) adjudicate, survey, register or title these lands in the names of Uganda Land
Commission or local governments;
(ii) commission an audit on all land currently gazetted as refugee resettlement
schemes to assess current and future needs and redistribute any superfluous land
to the assessed needs, to landless citizens and/or communities; and
(iii) ensure that District Land Boards hold and manage land entrusted to them by the
Constitution and the Land Act as trustees for the citizens of Uganda.

3.7 MINERALS AND PETROLEUM

107. Article 244 of the Constitution (a result of the 2005 constitutional amendments) vests
petroleum and minerals resources in Government on behalf of the Republic of Uganda.
This is a contradictory location considering the fact that radical title is held by the
Citizens of Uganda. There need to confirm with the location of the radical title by vesting
these critical resources in the State to hold in trust for the citizens of Uganda as
government changes hands, but the State does not.

Policy Statement
108. Minerals and Petroleum being strategic natural resources shall vest in the State for
the beneficial interest of all the citizens of Uganda.
Strategies
109. Measures will be taken to:
(i) Amend Article 244 of the Constitution which vests minerals and petroleum in the
Government on behalf of the Republic of Uganda, to vest these strategic natural

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resources in the State under the public trust doctrine for the benefit of the citizens
of Uganda;
(ii) Adopt an open policy on information concerning prospecting and mining of these
resources to the public;
(iii) Allow to the extent possible, co-existence of individuals and communities owning
land in areas where petroleum and minerals are discovered with extraction activity;
(iv) Protect the land rights of individuals and communities owning land in areas where
mineral and petroleum deposits exist or are discovered.

3.8 LAND TENURE REGIMES FOR UGANDA

110.-. The Constitution and the Land Act provide that land in Uganda may be held in four
tenure categories only, namely customary, freehold, mailo and leasehold tenure. The
incidents of these tenure regimes (other than leasehold) are defined in terms of
generalities which establish no particular frontiers. The apparent finality with which the
incidents of each tenure category is defined in the Land Act leaves little room for
transitional or progressive adaptation in response among other things, to changing
demands exerted by population growth, technological development and rapid
urbanization. The result is likely to be the growth and expansion of informal or
secondary land rights regimes in both urban and rural areas.

111. The classification has left many issues unresolved in the operation of the property rights
system in the country:
(i) Does this classification add any value, was it necessary or even adequate.
(ii) Whether the categories of tenure regimes known to property law of Uganda are
closed.
(iii) If there is any essential difference between freehold, mailo and even customary
tenure; and
(iv) Whether it is possible for those regimes to develop incidents akin to another
without the intervention of the state or its agencies?

Policy Statement
112. The four tenure systems will remain as enshrined in the Constitution; but the nature
of property rights under the designated tenure regimes will be clarified to remove
uncertainties.

Strategies
113. In order to clarify the tenure regimes, the Constitution, the Land Act and other relevant
laws will be amended to:
(i) allow tenure regimes to evolve and develop appropriate incidents in response to
changes in social structures, technologies of land use and market demands;
(ii) permit inter-convertibility of tenure rights in response to changes in social
structures, technologies of land use and ecological imperatives;

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(iii) enable primary tenure regimes (i.e. freehold, customary tenure and mailo) to
develop their own unique incidents in response to time, circumstance and
durability, without stipulation for one way directional conversion to freehold
tenure;
(iv) re-affirm and strengthen the legitimacy of socially and culturally acceptable tenure
systems as a means of preserving access rights to common property resources;
(v) allow recognition and strengthening of the land rights of women, children and
other minorities under all tenure regimes in existence and in emerging new ones;

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B. LAND TENURE SYSTEMS

CHAPTER 4: THE LAND TENURE FRAMEWORK

Background Statement
114. This framework concerns itself with the assessment of tenure regimes in terms of
structure, along the four tenure systems of mailo, freehold, leasehold and customary
tenure. It also deals with attributes of tenure regimes that impinge on and confer security
for land users and temporal control over specified land resources in respect of the use
functions for which such access is required or obtained.

Problem Statement
115. There is need to review the proviso for inter-convertibility of other tenures into freehold,
to take cognizance of experiences from elsewhere since customary tenure has remained
popular and persisted to the extent that its values and principles are known to undermine
the operations of statutory regimes, to a large extent. Furthermore, diverse changes have
occurred in contemporary Uganda, distressing tenure regimes in ways that create tenure
insecurity and uncertainty. For this policy, focus is on enhanced planning, management,
and enforcement of land use regulation in all tenure regimes.

4.1 CLASSIFICATION OF LAND TENURE REGIMES

116. There are three ways of classifying land tenure regimes. The first is in terms of the legal
regime governing tenure, i.e. whether the regime is statutory (formal) or customary
(informal). The second is in terms of the manner in which such land is used, i.e. whether
as private, public, or government land. The third is in terms of the quantum of rights
held i.e. whether absolute (timeless-bound) or time-bound.

117. The Constitution and the Land Act have classified land tenure only in terms of the first
and last of these. Both provide that land in Uganda may be held in terms of four tenure
categories, namely customary, freehold, mailo, and leasehold. The two legal instruments
have not classified land tenure in terms of the manner nor the purpose for which such
land is held whether as private, government, public, government, or community.

Policy Statements
118. (a) Land will be categorized as Private Land, Public Land and Government
land.

(b) Each land tenure system will be defined in details and ensure that all tenure
regimes, recognized under law, confer social, economic and political security
to land owners, occupiers, and users.

(c) Regulate use of land under all tenure systems by exercising the regulatory
power of the State and its agencies for orderly development.

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119. Reform of tenure regimes will be guided by a number of principles, including:


(i) a good land tenure system must guarantee access and security of tenure,
(ii) a good land tenure system must ensure equity in the distribution of land resources,
eliminate discrimination in ownership and transmission of land resources, and
preserve and conserve resources for future generations;
(iii) a good land tenure system must develop and evolve in response to competing
social, economic and political demands, rather than policies keen on simple
replacement models;
(iv) a good land tenure system must protect natural resources;
(v) a good tenure system must facilitate planning, provision of basic services and
infrastructure, and management and enforcement of land use regulation
throughout the country.

Strategies
120. Legislative and other measures will be put in place to:
(i) remove all structural and normative impediments internal to the operation of each
tenure system;
(ii) guarantee that access to land by way of transfer or transmission does not deny any
person rights in land on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or social and economic
status;
(iii) ensure equity in the distribution of land resources, and preserve and conserve
resources for future generations;
(iv) ensure that systems of tenure which confer absolute ownership do not operate as a
vehicle for speculative accumulation of land by the elite or deprive the poor, their
access rights.

CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE

121. The Constitution and the Land Act restored the status of customary land tenure by
recognizing it as one of the four tenure regimes. The Land Act enumerates the incidents
of customary tenure to include its territorial or clan nature, existence of rules and
regulations governing community, family, and individual rights to land, and perpetual
ownership of land. The Constitution and the Land Act also provide that customary tenure
may be converted to freehold.

122. Customary land tenure is a complex system of land relations, the incidents of which are
not always capable of precise definition. There are a lot of prejudices, misconceptions,
myths, unfounded beliefs and allegations against the customary land tenure system.
Customary tenure is said to bring three problems, viz that (i) it does not provide security
of tenure for land owners; (ii) it impedes development because it does not allow the
development of the land market, through which those who need land for development can
acquire it; (iii) it discriminates against women, and does not accord them land rights.

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123. There is partial recognition of customary tenure in law, as the incidents enumerated by
the Land Act, do not recognize the essential characteristics of customary land tenure
namely that:
(i) right to land is a function of community, lineage and family membership;
(ii) rights to land though universal, is specific to a function or group of functions;
(iii) allocation of and control of use of land are part and parcel of community
governance; and
(iv) trans–generational rights to land are protected through rules of exchange and
transmission designed to keep land resources within communities, lineages and
families.

124. Despite the recognition in law, in practice customary tenure is regarded and treated as
inferior, to other forms of registered property rights. Problem areas for customary land
tenure are as below:
(i) The majority of Ugandans, hold land in this tenure; yet they find their land
considered as not being at par, in value, compared to other tenures;
(ii) As a secondary effect, courts of law in the administration of justice still assess it
as lesser to other tenures that have titles for proof of ownership;
(iii) Titling of customary tenure and its conversion to freehold is still
contentious;
(iv) Lastly, there is need for greater and deeper understanding of the customary tenure
system as a basis for sustainable and rapid socio-economic transformation.

Policy Statement
125. Customary tenure will be strengthened to facilitate and promote its orderly evolution
into a progressive and productive land tenure system.

Strategies
126. Facilitate the evolution of customary tenure as an important framework for land rights
definition and use through measures and programmes to:
(i) document customary land tenure rules applicable to specific communities at the
district or sub-county levels;
(ii) design and implement a land registry system for the systematic adjudication and
demarcation of land rights under customary tenure with an option for registration
of land rights;
(iii) inventorise and vest common property resources in communities to be managed
under customary law.

127. Design and enact a legislative framework to facilitate the orderly development and
evolution of customary law, measures will be taken to:
(i) amend the Land Act Cap 227 and the Constitution 1995, with regard to the
conversion of customary land tenure to freehold to permit only land owned
individually to be converted to freehold;

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(ii) amend the Registration of Titles Act. Cap 230 to incorporate Constitutional changes
that place customary tenure at par with other tenure systems;
(iii) develop procedures in conformity with customary land law for the allocation and
redistribution of land so as to prevent the emergence of inequalities and injustices;
(iv) modify the rules of transmission of land rights under customary land tenure to
guarantee gender equality and equity;
(v) recognize the role of customary institutions in making rules governing land,
resolving disputes and protecting land rights;
(vi) make provision for joint ownership of family land by spouses;
(vii) define individual land rights, from communal rights under customary land tenure
and distinguish the rights and obligations of customary institutions vis-à-vis those
of the community and individuals.

128. To strengthen traditional land management and administrative institutions, measures will
be taken to:
(i) recognize and enforce decisions of traditional land management by local
government and State institutions;
(ii) ensure full judicial backing for traditional institutions as mechanisms of first
instance in respect of land rights allocation, use regulation and dispute processing
for land under customary tenure.

4.3 MAILO TENURE AND NATIVE FREEHOLD TENURE

129. Mailo and native freeholds are subject to the rights of occupiers or kibanja holders. Both
separate the ownership of land from occupancy or ownership of developments by “lawful
or bonafide” occupants, guaranteed by the Land Act 1998. The kibanja holder has option
to purchase and, thus, move up to the mailo or freehold title status. The Land Act also
guarantees statutory protection to the kibanja holder and his or her successors against any
eviction as long as the prescribed nominal ground rent is paid.

130. The definition and the rights accorded to bonafide occupants lack legitimacy on part of
land owners. The landlord tenant relationship as currently enacted under the Land Act is a
source of contention. The nominal ground provided for under the Land Act as opposed to
economic rent is also a bone of contention. Overall, the overlapping and conflicting rights
in the same piece of land have created a land use deadlock between the statutory tenants
and the registered land owner. These multiple and overlapping interests and rights over the
same piece of land have also lead to conflicts and many times evictions. There is therefore,
a need, to disentangle these overlapping rights and interests as well as creating amicable
and harmonious landlord – tenant relations.

Policy Statement
131. The State shall take legislative and other measures to resolve and disentangle the
multiple, overlapping and conflicting interests and rights on mailo tenure and native
freehold tenure.

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Strategies
132. In order to remove the land use impasse between the occupants and the registered land
owners, the following measures will be taken to:
(i) institutionalize and promote the principle and practice of land sharing and land re-
adjustment between the registered land owner and occupant;
(ii) promote free negotiations between the two parties for one party to surrender his/her
land rights and interests at an agreed price;
(iii) facilitate either party (tenant or landlord) to access the Land Fund to purchase the
interest of the other party on a loan basis;
(iv) make provision in the land law for fair and just compensation adjudicated by
courts of law/land tribunals to be paid to the tenant;
(v) purchase, the interest of the registered land owner, the land occupied by tenants,
using the Land Fund and sell the interest to the tenants, based on social justice and
equity considerations and devise a system of recovering the money from the
tenants.

133. In order to ensure a just, equitable and amicable landlord-tenant relationship, the
following measures will be taken:
(i) re-define bonafide occupant and the rights accorded to such occupants (taking into
account adverse possession principles and disability principle);
(ii) ensure the right of the registered land owner to rent commensurate with the value
of the land
(iii) restore the right of the land owner to negotiate fair tenancy terms
(iv) in the event of amicable negotiations failing, the rent will be fixed by a competent
court/tribunal based on:
(a) the right of the registered land owner to rent commensurate with the value
of the land;
(b) the right of the tenant to a source of livelihood;
(c) the circumstances of initial occupancy or entry on the land; and
(d) size of the land occupied by the tenant.

134. In event of sale of registered land occupied by tenants, the liabilities and obligations
thereon shall be transferred automatically to the new registered land owner.

4.4 FREEHOLD TENURE

135. About five percent of households in Uganda hold land under this tenure 2. The incidents
of freehold tenure, which are basically standard, include the conferment of a full power of
disposition, and compulsory registration of title in perpetuity. It is clear that public policy
regards freehold as the property regime of the future, to the extent that current law
provides for conversion from leasehold tenure or customary tenure to freehold. This
stipulation is contentious in some areas of the country. Where it has been tested, it has
been expensive, as it requires substantial resources for adjudication, consolidation, and

2
Uganda National Household Survey 2006

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registration. In some instances, freehold poses challenges to regulation as its covenants


are not conditional.

Policy Statement
136. The State shall exercise its regulatory power on freehold tenure to ensure
compliance with planning regulations for orderly development.

Strategies
137. The following measures will be taken:
(i) impose, through an Act of Parliament conditional covenants on freehold land
tenure to regulate it’s use and development..

4.5 LEASEHOLD TENURE

138. Leasehold involves the derivation and enjoyment of land rights from a superior title in
exchange for conditions, including but not limited to, the payment of rent. The 1995
Constitution (under Article 237 (5)) provides that any lease, which was granted to a
Uganda citizen out of former public land, may be converted into freehold. This
constitutional provision is lacking in guiding principles with regard to:
(i) Leaseholds issued to individuals who held land under customary tenure before the
1995 Constitution; in all fairness, these leaseholds should be automatically
converted to freehold, since customary tenure is now recognized legally as tenure
with land rights in perpetuity.
(ii) In instances where leaseholds have been accidentally granted to customary owners
in respect of their holdings after the 1995 Constitution, these also ought to be
converted to freehold automatically, since their land rights in perpetuity are already
confirmed.
(iii) However, leaseholds granted out of former public land without any customary
rights should not be converted to freehold; since they were not based on
recognition of an existing customary tenure, they should continue to run as
leasehold, with the citizens of Uganda keeping the reversionary interest.

139. However, the above notwithstanding, leaseholds have the potential to be used extensively
to promote sophisticated forms of concurrent ownership such as condominiums and time-
share arrangements, as they open land to a much larger range of users and use functions.

Policy Statement
140. Leaseholds will be promoted as the basic instrument for access to land in all tenure
systems.

Strategies
141. Measures will be put in place to:
(i) Convert all leaseholds, issued to customary tenants over their personal land
holdings before the 1995 Constitution, to freehold;

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(ii) Convert all leaseholds, issued to customary owners over their personal land
holdings after the 1995 Constitution to freehold;
(iii) Limit the conversion of leaseholds, issued out of former public land, to freehold;
(iv) Encourage the utilization of leasehold in respect of all land tenure categories
through the provision of simplified standard format;
(v) ensure all leasehold arrangements are registered or recorded, as appropriate, in
state registries;
(vi) limit the duration of leasehold over public land not exceeding 99 years or periods
consistent with specific development requirements whichever is lesser;
(vii) provide standards for exercise of reversionary rights to comply first-option-of-
renewal to the current lessee on public leaseholds.

4.6 COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES ON PRIVATE LAND

142. In most instances these resources situate on land owned privately by individuals and
communities. Common property resources are usually managed through institutional
arrangements, customs, and social conventions, designed to induce co-operative solutions
to issues of access and benefit-sharing. The Land Act and the 1995 Constitution, do not
take into account the role of local communities in the preservation and management of
common property resources. Common Property Resources (especially communal grazing
land) have in the past been grabbed, sold illegally or individualized by some members of
the local communities.

Policy Statements
143. (a) Existing laws and regulations on the management of common property
resources will be reformed to ensure complementarity with community
practices.

(b) Government shall ensure that land-based resources whose ownership is


vested in a private entity or community are managed sustainably.

Strategies
144. Government will take measures to institute the following reforms:
(i) identify and gazette access routes or corridors to common property resources (often
encroached upon and individualized) for public use;
(ii) enact appropriate legislation to clarify who may have access to what categories of
common property resources and how such access may be secured;
(iii) identify, document and gazette all common property resources wherever located
and irrespective of their tenure status;
(iv) ensure that common property resources exclusively used by or available to
particular communities are directly held and managed by them;
(v) develop mechanisms which will mediate between state, local authorities,
communities and individual interests in particular common property resources,

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(vi) facilitate communities and their traditional institutions to register and legalize their
ownership over common property resources;
(vii) build capacity for management of common property resources by Local
Governments and Communities by recognizing and regularizing their roles.

4.7 LAND RIGHTS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES

145. In Uganda, the land rights of minority groups as ancestral and traditional owners, users
and custodians of the various natural habitats are not acknowledged even though their
survival is dependent upon access to natural resources. They hold experiences and
knowledge in maintaining balanced eco-systems and sustainable use passed on from
generation to generation. Protection of their rights to access land and natural resources is
fundamental for the survival of minority groups, because they occupy land on the basis of
precarious and unprotected land rights systems, which expose them to constant evictions,
removals and displacements.

146. Establishment of national parks and conservation areas, as well as large scale commercial
enterprises such as mining, logging, commercial plantations, oil exploration, dam
construction etc, is often under taken at the expense of the rights of such ethnic
minorities. Except for forestry, the criteria for setting aside land for conservation are not
entirely well established or known. The manner of loss and dispossession is often heavy-
handed eviction undertaken without informing, consulting or offering them any
reparations. The management of protected areas is largely in the hands of the
Government, which at the same time has power and authority to regulate the use of land
held under any tenure.

Policy Statement
147. Government shall in its use and management of natural resources, recognize the
land rights of minorities to their ancestral lands.

Strategies
148. Measures will be taken to:
(i) establish regulations by Statutory Instrument to:
(a) recognize land tenure rights of minorities in ancestral lands,
(b) document and protect such de facto occupation rights against arbitrary
evictions or displacements,
(c) consider land swapping or compensation or resettlement in the event of
expropriation of ancestral land of minorities for conservation purposes,
(d) detail terms and conditions for displacement of minorities from their
ancestral lands in the interest of conservation or natural resources extraction;
(ii) deliberate and specify benefit-sharing measures to ensure that minority groups
benefit from resources that accrue from other industry such as tourism using their
ancestral lands;

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(iii) establish criteria for gazetting and de-gazetting of conservation areas, cognizant of
the vital role that natural resources and habitats play in the livelihood of minority
groups.

4.8 LAND RIGHTS OF PASTORAL COMMUNITIES

149. Pastoral communities occupy rangelands which are harsh in terms of both climate and
ecology. Although rangelands occupy a significant proportion of the total land area
estimated at 84,000 sq km (43% of the total land area), many of them have been
significantly degraded. Today, rangelands have shrunk to a fraction of what they used to
be 3 decades ago, given the invasion and proliferation of cultivation into areas only
suitable for grazing. Land invasions or grabbing and “illegal” land buying by nomadic
pastoralists in their quest for resources are causing tenure insecurity.

150. In addition, pastoralists have been progressively rendered landless by successive


individual, private and government agency actions, following the alienation of their
grazing areas for establishment of national parks, wildlife reserves, protected areas,
government military, and ranching schemes. This has reduced access to land resources
and constrained mobility, a key ingredient in managing the low net productivity,
unpredictability and risk on rangelands under large acreage. Mobility often leads to
conflict with neighboring communities over grazing and water resources. There is need to
mitigate the severity of competition and conflict over pastoral resources.

Policy Statement
151. Land rights of pastoral communities will be guaranteed and protected by the State.

Strategies
152. Legislative and measures will be taken to:
(i) ensure that pastoral lands are held, owned and controlled by designated pastoral
communities as common property under customary tenure;
(ii) prescribe clear principles for the ownership, control and management of pastoral
lands in a pastoralism policy by the Ministry responsible for Agriculture;
(iii) ensure zoning to establish appropriate pastoral resource areas and access,
maintaining an equitable balance between the use of land for pasture, agriculture,
and for wildlife protection;
(iv) develop particular projects for adaptation and reclamation of pastoral lands for
sustainable productivity and improved livelihood of communities;
(v) establish mechanisms for flexible and negotiated cross-border access to pastoral
resources among clans, lineages and communities for their mutual benefit;
(vi) protect pastoral lands from indiscriminate appropriation by individuals or
corporate institutions under the guise of investment;
(vii) consider restitution, compensation or resettlement of pastoral communities who
have lost land to government over years;

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(viii) open access to grazing land among the pastoralists by promoting development of
Communal Land Associations and use of communal land management schemes.

4.9 LAND RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

153. In Uganda, women are generally unable to own or inherit land due to restrictive practices
under customary land tenure or are not economically (and adequately) endowed to
purchase rights in the market. Attempts to redress this situation by outlawing
discriminatory cultures, customs and practices in land ownership, occupation and use, and
further requiring spousal consent to transactions involving family land in the Constitution
and Land Act, have not been effective due to failure in implementation and enforcement
of these provisions. In general, customs continue to override statutory law over
recognition and enforcement of women’s land rights. While the Land Act caters for legal
wives to some extent, it does not assign the responsibility for protecting land rights of
widows, divorcees, women in co-habitation, and children.

154. The Divorce Act and the Succession Act have been subject to strategic litigation by the
Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA), and Law and Advocacy for Women in
Uganda, respectively. Constitutional Court decisions in respect of these petitions, have
nullified sections of laws charged with realization and ascertainment of land rights for
vulnerable groups, especially women and children, including the processes to guarantee
rights (asset stripping / grabbing, death of spouse, polygamy and bride price, property
etc). These land mark court decisions are yet to be legislated into law. Despite having
ratified several international instruments on human rights, there is a distinct gap between
what is in law on paper and what is in practice, mainly because standards and values
ascribed to are not respected.

Policy Statements
155. (a) Government shall undertake further legislative measures to protect the
rights of access to, inheritance and ownership of land for women and
children.

(b) The Government shall address the existing gender inequality and ensure that
both men and women enjoy equal rights to land before marriage, in
marriage, after marriage, and at succession, without discrimination.

Strategies
156. Government will review and regulate customary law and practices to:
(i) ensure rules and procedures relating to succession do not impede transmission of
land to women and children
(ii) reform customs, traditions and customs which discriminate against women and
children with respect to access, use and ownership of land;

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(iii) ensure family land is held in trust for the family and restore the power of traditional
leaders in matters of land administration, conditional on their sensitivity to rights of
vulnerable groups.

157. Government will take measures to reform statutory law and uphold the principles of
gender equity and equality, in order to:
(i) design and implement a regime of matrimonial property law aimed at the
protection of spouses both within and outside marriages and make legal provision
for spousal co-ownership of family land and matrimonial home;
(ii) enforce the land rights of women and children to succession by overhauling the
succession law;
(iii) amend the Land Act provisions to restore the consent clause to protect children;
(iv) presume the existence of marriage for purpose of securing the property rights of
spouses who have acquired property in cohabitation;
(v) provide for widows and orphans to inherit family land.

158. The Government will take special measures to:


(i) mainstream gender into development planning and in all decision-making
structures and processes relating to access and use of land so as to improve the
status of women;
(ii) reform the property laws of the country, including those considered “gender
neutral” to ensure equality and equity in ownership and control of land;
(iii) domesticate all international conventions, which outlaw discrimination against
women and children and enforce all the principles therein;
(iv) support the formation of the Equal Opportunities Commission as a specialized
institution to advocate for and, where relevant, implement strategies in the National
Land Policy;
(v) solicit the support of religious leaders and cultural leaders to accept and
implement measures in the national land policy designed to protect the rights of
women and children.

4.10 LAND RIGHTS OF DWELLERS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS AND SLUMS

159. Uganda land tenure systems have presented a major hurdle in supply of decent housing
stock, especially in urban areas. Most land in urban areas, on which housing is either
constructed by landlords or by tenants (who have occupancy rights using their own
savings), is privately-owned. Land tenure has been blamed for working to the detriment
of orderly development, and growth, by allowing access to land on a limited, temporary
or illegal basis. It is, therefore, common for slum dwellers, who are part of the urban
fabric (because of their substantive contribution to urban economy) to settle in marginal
areas with high environmental concerns and health hazards under precarious conditions in
urban and peri-urban areas.

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Policy Statement
160. Government will provide a framework for regularizing land tenure for dwellers in
informal settlements and slums.

Strategies
161. Measures will be undertaken to:
(i) mainstream informal sector activities in overall urban and rural development plans;
(ii) accord statutory security to informal sector activities without compromising
physical planning standards and requirements;
(iii) providing social infrastructure for informal sector developments; and
(iv) encourage land-users in the informal sector to acquire more secure tenure rights
through the market, individually or as communities;
(v) regulate sub-division of land in urban and peri-urban areas to guarantee the
maintenance of economic security in the land sector;
(vi) promote and confer legitimacy to the land use activities of the urban poor especially
in relation to agriculture and silviculture;
(vii) provide affordable infrastructure for self-improvement by the urban poor.

4.11 LAND RIGHTS OF OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS

162. This category recognizes the land rights of persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,
persons-with–disability, and land rights of internally-displaced persons. These groups are
prone to loss of land and are threatened by landlessness due to poverty induced asset
transfers, distress land sales, evictions, land grabbing and abuse of land inheritance
procedures. These groups are exposed to eviction and displacement.

Policy Statement
163. Legislation and management practices shall accord all vulnerable groups equal land
rights in acquisition, transmission, and use of land.

Strategies
164. Legislative and other measures will be put in place to:
(i) protect the rights of all vulnerable groups (including, internally displaced persons,
persons-with-disability, persons affected and infected by HIV/AIDS) in all the
tenure systems in Uganda;
(ii) guarantee that access to land, by way of transfer or transmission, is not denied to
any one on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or social and economic status;
(iii) prevent the appropriation of the land rights of vulnerable groups through
regulation and control of the rural land market;
(iv) mitigate the distress land sales involving persons affected and infected by
HIV/AIDS;
(v) sensitize and encourage vulnerable groups to hold their ownership rights and
interests in family or community trusts.

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4.12 RESTORATION OF ASSETS AND PROPERTIES TO TRADITIONAL RULERS

165. The Traditional Rulers (Restitution of Assets and Properties) Act Cap 247, laid the
foundation for the return of land and properties which were confiscated in the 1967 by the
Central Government to the Traditional Rulers.. The assets outlined in the schedule of the
statute were directly returned to the Traditional Ruler of Buganda. The interest restored
was equivalent to that held by the Uganda Land Commission at the time of restoration. It
also provided that the assets and properties not specified in the schedule were to be
returned following negotiations between the Government and the Traditional Rulers
concerned as may be agreed.

166. The Kingdom of Bunyoro and Busoga have, among others, put forward demand for the
return of their “ebyeitu” and “ebyaife” (properties of their Traditional Rulers)
respectively. In addition, the Buganda Kingdom has been making persistent demands for
the return of its public land, the so called ‘9000 square miles’, the 1500 square miles of
forests, and the 160 square miles of official estates which was confiscated by the Central
Government in 1967.

167. In the opinion of the Attorney General of the Government of Uganda: “former crown
land or public land, land which is not owned by any person or authority is vested in the
district land boards. A part of the “9000 square miles” is owned by the people who are
customarily living on it. Part of it is also owned by people who procured certificates of
title issued by the Uganda Land Commission or District Land Boards, that some leases
have been converted into freeholds pursuant to the Land Act”. The Buganda Kingdom
dismisses these arguments as failing in principle to acknowledge its legitimate claims to
these lands confiscated in 1967.

168. For the National Land Policy, the issues are the following:
(i) The return of properties of Traditional Rulers has been a long-standing matter,
which has continued to strain the relationship between the Central Government
and the Traditional Rulers or Kingdoms as it re-surfaces from time to time.
(ii) Since the Government accepts that negotiations on the return of the non-
scheduled properties are on-going, it is imperative that these negotiations are
expedited to conclude this legal process.
(iii) The relationship between Traditional Rulers as “owners” or “holders” of these
properties and the actual persons settled on this land is not clearly defined by
legislation.
(iv) It would appear that the land/properties were restored to the Traditional Rulers as
trustees and not owners in so far they were returned to the institution of the
Traditional Ruler.

Policy Statements
169. (a) Government, upon proof of claims, shall restore properties of

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Traditional Rulers confiscated in 1967 conclusively, in agreement with the


traditional rulers as provided for under the Traditional Rulers (Restoration
of Assets and Properties) Act cap 247.

(b) Land and properties restored to Traditional Rulers, on behalf of their


subjects, shall be used and managed for the common good of the subjects of
the traditional authority as public trust properties.

Strategies
170. For all properties returned to Traditional Rulers, measures will be taken to:
(i) ensure a clear distinction is drawn between Traditional Rulers’ personal land and
that belonging to the Institution which is held in trust for their subjects;
(ii) ensure the observance of a fiduciary relationship as trustees in respect of properties
returned to Traditional Rulers for the common good of their subjects;
(iii) ensure that occupiers of restored lands are protected from illegal evictions; and
(iv) prepare an inventory showing the location of such land restored and the nature of
any beneficial interest held by persons in occupation thereby.

171. For all properties yet to be returned to Traditional Rulers, legislative and administrative
measures will be taken to:
(i) negotiate conclusively with all Traditional Rulers for the return of assets and
properties confiscated in 1967; and
(ii) In case of Buganda, where claims have been put to the fore, expedite the
negotiation process for the return of 160 square miles of official estates, 1500
square miles of forests and “9,000 square miles” to the Kingdom of Buganda.

4.13 THE KIBAALE LAND QUESTION

172. Several attempts have been made to resolve the Kibaale question, beginning with the
1964 Referendum. The most recent efforts were made during the discussions, leading to
the 1995 Constitution and the discussions of the Land Bill 1998. All were unsuccessful.
Since the passing of the Land Act 1998, the Government, using the Land Fund, has
bought off some absentee landlords. However, due to budgetary constraints, the bigger
part of the mailo land of absentee landlords is yet to be purchased by the Government
(although a register of absentee landlords exists). Distribution and sharing of the
purchased land is yet to be satisfactorily resolved, as terms and conditions are not
stipulated. In recent years, the Banyoro have waited for promises of return of their land
to be fulfilled, as they witnessed immigrants progressively settle on it permanently.
173. In considering the Kibaale question, the national land policy is cognizant of the following
facts and issues:
(i) That the Banyoro lost their land, politically in terms of territorial and administrative
affiliation to Buganda and by virtue of loss of ownership rights over land as a
resource, to absentee landlords; thus, they became squatters on their ancestral land
through operationalization of the 1900 Buganda Agreement.

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(ii) Even though the 1964 Referendum, on the “Lost Counties” of Buyaga and
Bugangaizi, returned the territorial affiliation and administrative responsibility to
Bunyoro, the loss of ownership rights over land, as a resource, was not addressed
nor fixed by the referendum; thus, a need to correct this historical injustice.
(iii) Between 1950 and 1973, the Government, in negotiation with the Omukama of
Bunyoro, set up resettlement schemes in Ruteete (in Buyaga County). In 1992, in
negotiation with local authorities, an additional resettlement scheme was set up in
Bugangaizi County. The set up of these schemes was not guided by a clear
resettlement policy, nor where the subsequent voluntary immigrations (by virtue of
networks between those already re-settled and their areas of origin), guided by any
form of policy.
(iv) As the numbers swelled, by virtue of incessant immigration and settlement by other
ethnicities referred to as “bafuruki”, tensions have risen with regard to land bought
from the Baganda absentee mailo owners or from fellow “bafuruki” and indigenous
land owners. Some immigrants have settled illegally and irregularly on public land
and protected areas, mainly in the forest reserves, which has prompted the National
Forestry Authority to embark on evictions.

Policy Statement
174. Government shall take measures to correct historical land injustices in a manner
that promotes harmony for peaceful co-existence of indigenous persons and
immigrants in Kibaale District.

Strategies
175. Government shall take measures to:
(i) commit sufficient resources to the Land Fund (established under the Land Act) to
purchase mailo interests of all absentee owners at market prices;
(ii) carry out a detailed land audit of all land occupied by immigrants to determine the
mode of access;
(iii) develop criteria for land adjudication and re-distribution of the purchased land as
stipulated by the Land Act and ensure equity in the re-distribution;
(iv) guarantee and protect the land rights of all immigrants who accessed land legally
since the Constitution guarantees every citizen to settle anywhere in the country;
(v) evict all people illegally and / or irregularly settled in gazetted protected areas in
accordance with the relevant laws;
(vi) Formulate a resettlement policy to guide voluntary immigration and government-
led re-settlement initiatives in Uganda.
4.14 LAND MARKETS

176. Land markets are to do with the transfer of rights and interests in land through sale,
assignments, rental, hire, pledge, and similar forms of exchange. Apart from direct
allocation and transmissions, the land market is the primary avenue through which access
to land is obtained. Whatever market exists, it is important that it functions efficiently
and equitably and in support of the socio-economic and cultural needs of the users.

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177. Key market concerns for the national land policy are: first and foremost, it is the duty of
the Government to regulate the operations in the land market under all tenure regimes.
Secondly, is to underscore the need for infrastructure to support efficient and equitable
land market operations. It is recognized that land markets by nature, are subject to
imperfections and distortions caused by lack of effective regulation, poor land use
planning, and under-capitalization. The operations of a land market hinge on an efficient
land registry system that guarantees titles, provides accurate information, and is open to
public scrutiny. Thirdly, land markets can lead to loss of rights for vulnerable groups
through distress sales, the consequences of which is landlessness, as land flows into the
hands of the rich.

Policy Statement
178. The Government shall promote efficient, effective and equitable land markets in all
land tenure regimes.

Strategies
179. Measures will be strategically taken to create an enabling environment to:
(i) facilitate the exchange and transmission of land rights and interests without
compromising tenure security for individuals and communities;
(ii) identify a statutory agency or department to facilitate and regulate the land market
in Uganda
(iii) design and implement measures to mitigate against the negative impacts of land
markets through fiscal, planning and other appropriate measures;
(iv) establish a well-functioning land information system and provide good quality
land-related information and infrastructure to access this information;
(v) introduce and create a computerized land registration and cadastral system, that is
periodically updated to guarantee transactional accuracy and reduce costs of
registration and disputes;
(vi) promote public/private partnerships to provide sufficient capacity and finance to
while retaining ultimate control by the state;
(vii) promote and institutionalize the land rental market to ensure equity and access to
land;
(viii) regulate the operations of non-state actors in the land market, in particular real
estate agents and other professionals.

4.15 ACCESS TO LAND FOR INVESTMENT

180. Government and its agencies need to create an environment that attracts private
investment, both foreign and domestic, for the transformation of the economy. Uganda is
one of the worst-rated countries in the world (rated at position 167 out of 181 countries)
with regard to ease of access to land by investors and property registration. Investors need
assured rights to land property in which they invest.

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181. For the national land policy, the issues of concern relate to the following:
(i) Growth in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can lead to alienation of land from
peasant’s rights holders; thus, displacing peasants resulting into tenure insecurity,
food insecurity, poverty and land conflicts. This has already happened in some
isolated cases and concentration of land is in private hands.
(ii) Government needs to put in place mechanisms to deliver the right balance between
improving livelihoods, protecting vulnerable groups, and raising opportunities for
investments and development.
(iii) Government has to make progressive improvement in the quality and completeness
of cadastral and land information databases and systems to facilitate the land
market.

182. In addition, government or public land available to issue for carefully-selected private
investment deemed of importance for socio-economic growth is limited. Hence:
(i) One of the considerations, previously put forward by Government is the power of
compulsory acquisition to deliver land to investors; this has been roundly rejected
by the Citizens of Uganda.
(ii) In some instances, Government has opted for public land or government land on
which public utilities are located, by allocating such land to private investors and
displacing these public utilities in the process; such allocations and displacements
have not been based on any transparent criteria.
(iii) There is need to determine sectors which should be open to foreign direct
investments (FDI) and the amount of land to be allocated for such investments
based on the use to which the land is to be put.
(iv) Lastly, there is need to follow the due process as well as carry out due diligence on
investors.

Policy Statements
183. (a) Government will create an enabling environment to attract investment (both
domestic and foreign) in key sectors in the economy:
(i) In accordance with established laws and procedures without
exceptions;
(ii) On the basis of appropriate evaluation, due process including due
diligence.

(a) Government shall put in place measures to mitigate the negative impacts of
investment so as to deliver equitable and sustainable development.

Strategies
184. Government will put in place measures to:
(i) formulate a strategy to guide the state and its agencies in the provision of land for
investment, including measures to:
(a) regulate the amount of land investors can access in consideration of the use
that the land will be put to,

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(b) follow due process (evaluation, due diligence and approval of land use
change),
(c) determine sectors open to foreign direct investment,
(d) carry out cost-benefit analysis on public utilities before displacing them to
allocate land to private investors,
(e) assemble land and allocate it through a land bank;
(ii) provide reliable and easily accessible land-based information to guide potential
investors;
(iii) remove bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption in the land institutions to facilitate
delivery of land for investment;
(iv) promote long-term benefit-sharing arrangements rather than one-off compensation
for loss of land right in respect of investment by supporting alternative operational
business/production models between the locals and investors (such as contract
farming schemes for small holder farmers, out growers schemes, equity-sharing
schemes, use of leaseholds and joint-ventures).

185. Protect the land rights, including rights of citizens in the face of investments, with
measures for, but not limited to;
(i) clear procedures and standards for local consultation;
(ii) mechanisms for appeal and arbitration;
(iii) access to land by vulnerable groups, smaller-scale land owners and land users in
the face of large scale farming interests;
(iv) protect and avoid degradation of natural resources and sensitive eco-systems.

4.16 MEASURES FOR SUPPORTING LAND RIGHTS

186. The vast majority of Ugandans may not be able to afford the cost of formally securing
land rights under any of the tenure regimes recognized by law. Land rights delivery
mechanisms and agents alone, cannot be entrusted to guarantee tenure security to land
users, especially the vulnerable. It is, therefore, necessary to put in place a framework
that would ensure that land rights held by all Ugandans are fully and effectively enjoyed.

187. In addition, it is necessary for this national land policy to set minimum land sizes to avoid
excessive sub- division of land, in rural and urban areas, for orderly development.

188. The Land Act Cap 227 allows for non-citizens to acquire interest in land not greater than
leasehold for a maximum of 99 years. This principle needs to be re-affirmed in this policy
for effective implementation, as it is routinely disregarded in registry and market
transactions.

Policy Statements
189. (a) Government shall develop and implement measures for effective assurance of
enjoyment of all land rights by all citizens.

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(b) Government shall set minimum land sizes for rural and urban land to
promote orderly Development.

(c) Non-Citizens shall not be granted interest greater than leasehold for 99 years
in respect of land in Uganda.

Strategies
190. To support land rights, measures will be put in place to;
(i) ensure land rights and land administration are integrated in the national school
curriculum;
(ii) regulate the cost of land services delivery to a minimum with regard to
demarcation and registration (to make it affordable);
(iii) ensure land delivery services are further decentralized to the local authority level;
(iv) ensure community management structures relating to land under customary tenure
are strengthened;
(v) ensure civil society participation in the protection of land rights and tenure security
of communities and vulnerable groups
(vi) regulate land ownership by non-citizens by converting all rights and interests in
land (registered or otherwise) granted to non-citizen to leaseholds of not more than
99 years; and
(vii) regulate land sizes, in rural and urban areas, by setting minimum sizes as a
measure for controlling sub-divisions.

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C. LAND ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 5: LAND RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION FRAMEWORK

Background Statement
191. Land rights administration comprises the structures and processes through which rights in
land are created, defined, and recorded or certified; the integrity of land transactions is
assured and guaranteed, land rights disputes are processed, land revenue is generated, and
land information is inventoried, provided or otherwise archived. It is, thus, the primary
public vehicle through which land needs of the public and individuals are processed,
satisfied and secured.

Problem Statement
192. This framework is typically beset by a number of malfunctions, prominent among which
is a high degree of out-datedness, technical complexity, unclear managerial hierarchy and
operational inefficiency. It is bedeviled by corruption, inadequately resourced and
performing poorly in service delivery. This state of land administration has tended to
impede the development of the land sector and those productive sectors with which it has
intimate linkages.

5.1 LAND RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

193. Land rights administration operations have contributed to severe land rights insecurity
especially as a result of lack of proper record keeping, persistent inaccuracies in land
registry information, corruption and fraud and general mistrust of the land rights
administration system. Land rights administration needs to be treated as a professional
function, removed from the realm of politics and insulated from political pressures, often
bent on appropriation of land resources.

194. Land rights administration operates within two parallel systems comprising of: the
informal customary / traditional systems governed by customs and norms of given
communities and the centralized statutory (or state) system governed by written law. The
two are not in harmony, as exemplified by:
(i) institutional and systemic conflict between statutory systems and traditional /
customary systems exist;
(ii) inconsistencies in the customary / traditional system with regard to standards, rules
and procedures are common;
(iii) parallel practice, leading to confusion and conflict because the distinct roles of the
various institutions under customary / traditional and statutory institutions are not
spelt out.

195. Malfunctions endemic in land rights administration will not be permanently addressed
unless the system as presently established is dismantled and re-engineered. This exercise
must recognize the empirical realities associated with operating parallel systems of land

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rights administration; comprising customary operate as part and parcel of the social and
political organization of territorial groups, and statutory (or state) systems governed by
statutory law.

Policy Statements
196. (a) Government shall wholly and fundamentally restructure the lands rights
administration system to enhance efficiency, ease of access, and cost-
effectiveness.

(b) Land rights administration will recognize and harmonize the traditional
customary system with the formal statutory system.

Strategies
197. The measures will be put in place to:
(i) further decentralize land rights administration functions to traditional customary
land governance levels;
(ii) consolidate and rationalize decentralized land rights administration structures set
up by the Land Act Cap 227 as amended, in terms of cost, simplicity, efficiency,
accessibility and affordability;
(iii) re-design the hierarchy of the land rights administration institutions in such a way
as to enable traditional customary institutions to operate as the tiers of first instance
in respect of land held under customary tenure;
(iv) develop mechanisms for full and effective participation by land users, and
especially women, in all land rights administration functions;
(v) maintain clear separation between the land rights administration system and
public or political administration, so that land can be managed as property and not
as a political service;
(vi) Recognize and grant legality to operations of customary land administration
institutions under the Registration of Titles Act.

5.2 LAND RIGHTS DELIVERY

198. Land rights delivery serves the dual system of receipt and processing of land rights and
interests under all tenure regimes. Land rights delivery under customary tenure is based
largely on memory and folklore, which though not less authoritative lacks an institutional
framework. The statutory system is still manually organized and yet to benefit from
automation and computerization.

199. Neither of the systems (statutory and traditional) serve the land sector well, making
registration of interests slow, expensive, and corruption-prone, often leading to forged
titles. The systems, therefore, require urgent modernization and simplification. There is
growing concern that the concentration of land rights administration services in
government institutions and agencies is the primary cause of inefficiency and wastage. It

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is now generally agreed that some of these functions should either be privatized or
divested.

Policy Statements
200. (a) Government will re-structure modernize and simplify the land rights
delivery systems.

(b) Government shall enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness in land


administration through appropriately-structured, semi-autonomous
institution and non-state actors.

Strategies
201. Thus, measures will be put in place to:
(i) establish and operationalize the regular maintenance of community land registries
for the recording and certification of land rights under customary law;
(ii) introduce modern technology in land rights management, including
computerization of all land registries commencing with those established in urban
areas;
(iii) simplify all land registry practices through the use of model transaction documents;
(iv) design a system for the systematic tracking of changes in proprietorship through
transmissions, sub-divisions, mutations and boundary adjustments, to prevent
distortions in land registry information;
(v) through an Act of Parliament, regularize the fees and charges in the land registry,
for verification and transaction costs, including charges by local council for
effective control by local governments;
(vi) address corruption in the land registry to ensure an efficient service.

202. Reform measures will include:


(i) creation of a semi-autonomous state agency to manage and appropriately sequence
the services of:
(a) physical planning, land development, land registration, land surveys,
valuation, mapping,
(b) allocation of rights and interests in government/public land, and
(c) land information services;
(ii) privatization of a limited number of land rights administration services under
guidelines established by the semi-autonomous agency;
(iii) retention, at the centre, of the power of standards setting and supervision in respect
of the performance of all land delivery services;
(iv) continuous monitoring and evaluation of performance of the land agency by
private sector institutions;
(v) retention of dispute processing functions in communities and decentralized state
institutions established under the Land Act.

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5.3 LAND RIGHTS DEMARCATION, SURVEY AND MAPPING

203. In Uganda, performance of land rights demarcation, survey, and mapping functions has
been impeded by a variety of factors, chief amongst which are shortage of qualified
personnel in some areas, administrative bottlenecks in the preparation and approval of
deed plans, and prohibitive survey costs. Efforts by academic institutions to increase the
number of qualified professionals in survey are underway at the Entebbe School of
Survey and Land Management, and Makerere University.

204. In addition to shortage of qualified personnel,


(i) infrastructure to effectively support surveying functions within government, and
amongst private, services providers are limited due to the absence of equipment;
(ii) inadequate decentralization has constrained deployment and regulation of the
profession through the Surveyors Registration Board, which is itself currently non-
effective given the proliferation of the profession by un-qualified practitioners;
(iii) as regards the accessibility and affordability, there is an outcry on the exorbitant
cost of privatized survey services;
(iv) the destruction of survey points and coordinates has often fuelled land conflicts and
disputes;
(v) With regard to customary tenure, it is necessary to recognize traditional boundary-
marking systems and to sensitize communities on surveying and its role in
adjudication, as well as on systematic demarcation.

Policy Statement
205. Capacity for land rights adjudication, demarcation, survey, and mapping services
will be enhanced and technologically updated into a modern system.

Strategies
206. Measures will be taken to:
(i) provide facilities for the training of land rights adjudication, demarcation, survey,
and mapping personnel by public or private sector agencies;
(ii) privatize cadastral surveys, engineering and typographical surveying subject to
strict standard-setting and public regulation;
(iii) retain as the basic framework for surveys and mapping geodetic surveys,
hydrographic surveys and base mapping as a public functions;
(iv) recognize and confer official status to community- based boundary-marking
systems for land held under customary tenure;
(v) set and enforce clearly achievable standards for the preparation of maps and
registry plans by public and private agencies;
(vi) creatively over-haul standards, systems and laws on demarcation, surveys and
mapping;
(vii) regulate the cost of surveys and mapping to facilitate registration of land under
customary tenure;

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(viii) amend the Surveyors Registration Act and re-focus the Surveyors Registration
Board to effectively regulate the profession of land surveying and registration;
(ix) amend existing laws to allow for the use of modern technology such as Global
Positioning Systems (GPS) and remote sensing data; and
(x) Sensitize the community on the functions of surveys and mapping.

5.4 LAND INFORMATION SYSTEM

207. An important function of the land rights administration systems is to ensure that accurate
land information is available on land sizes, location and proprietary characteristics,
substantive and anticipated values, and land use quality. It is also important that
information should be available on utilities, infrastructure, topographic details, geodetic
controls, socio-economic and demographic parameters and environmental media. This is
important for land use planning and the design of a fiscal cadastre.

208. Currently, land information is mostly held in paper form, manually managed, and not
optimally utilized. Absence of technological infrastructure (including equipment) to
guarantee access to accurate land information is one of the problems haunting land
information management in Uganda. Additionally, such information system needs to be
operated with due regard to social, cultural, and intellectual property considerations.

Policy Statement
209. The Government shall establish and maintain a reliable, technology – driven, and
user-friendly Land Information Systems (LIS) as a public good for national
development.

Strategies
210. Measures will be taken to:
(i) develop data standards for geo-information comprising feature definitions, data
content, spatial referencing, and accuracy;
(ii) prepare and implement national guidelines, to improve the quality and quantity of
land information;
(iii) amend all relevant laws to enable application of modern technology;
(iv) procure technological infrastructure needed for the establishment of a
decentralized system;
(v) rehabilitate, re-organize, upgrade, authenticate, and digitize existing land records in
readiness for the establishment of a computerized land information system;
(vi) computerize existing land records to support the Land information System; and
(vii) decentralize and present the proposed land information system in a language
understood by community-level land managers and users.

5.5 LAND DISPUTES RESOLUTION

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211. The Land Act, established an elaborate structure of land tribunals, whose operations have
since been suspended by the Judiciary, citing limited resources and duplication with
Magistrates Courts. There is also need to ensure access to timely, efficient and affordable
dispute resolution mechanisms for efficient land markets, tenure security and investment
stability in the land sector.

212. There is need, to restructure the land dispute management system in a manner that
recognizes the inherent differences between disputes over land held under customary
tenure and those held under other tenure regimes, since no specific recognition is given to
indigenous mechanisms for dispute processing or customary law as a normative
framework for the processing of disputes under customary tenure. Overlaps in dispute
resolution institutions have resulted into fora shopping by aggrieved parties, without a
clear hierarchy.

Policy Statements
213. (a) Land Tribunals will be reinstated, properly resourced and facilitated
to enable them carry out their constitutional mandate.

(b) Land disputes resolution mechanisms will be overhauled to facilitate speedy


and affordable resolution of land disputes.

Strategies:
214. Legislative and other measures will therefore be taken to:
(i) ensure the operations of land tribunals are devoid of complex jurisdiction and
litigation procedures usually associated with ordinary courts of law;
(ii) provide clear choice rules for application of law by land tribunals to permit the
simultaneous application of state and customary law depending on the
circumstances, facts and characteristics of the dispute in question;
(iii) accord precedence to indigenous dispute management institutions in respect of
disputes over land held under customary land tenure;
(iv) ensure customary/traditional institutions keep proper written records of all cases of
dispute decided under their jurisdiction;
(v) define a clear hierarchy in dispute resolution structures;
(vi) guarantee the finality and authoritativeness of decisions of all dispute processing
mechanisms, subject only to appeal to higher levels of jurisdiction;
(vii) establish a special division in the High Court and Magistrates Court to handle land
disputes to ensure the development of consistent property jurisprudence for
Uganda;
(viii) provide free legal aid to the vulnerable sections of society through a system of
partnerships and incentives to private and civil society organizations to deal with
the ever increasing land litigation;
(ix) encourage and build capacity for alternative dispute resolution on land matters

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5.6 REVENUE GENERATION AND FISCAL FUNCTIONS

215. Decentralization of the land rights administration system under the Land Act Cap 227 and
Local Governments Act Cap 300 (Amended 2003) has created opportunities for revenue
generation and fiscal management through land taxes, land rates, stamp duty, rental
income, and through delivery of land services. It is important that the full potential to
generate revenue from the land rights administration system is actualized and enhanced.

Policy Statement
216. The Government shall develop the capacity of land sector institutions for effective
revenue generation and fiscal management.

Strategies
217. Measures will be taken to:
(i) review land taxation laws and create other avenues for revenue generation in the
land sector;
(ii) monitor performance of institutions charged with the collection of revenue
generated from land sector operations to avoid pilferage and wastage;
(iii) enhance the capacity of local and community governance institutions to raise and
utilize revenue from land sector operations, and
(iv) control levies on land transactions in urban and rural areas through guidelines
administered by local governments;
(v) streamline fiscal transfers between national, local and community land rights
delivery institutions so as to ensure equity in the sharing and use of land services
revenue;

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CHAPTER 6: LAND USE AND LAND MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Background Statement
218. An important strategic objective of the land sector is that land resources must be put to
optimal, productive and sustainable management. Being cognizant of the recently
approved National Land Use Policy, which is part and parcel of the national land policy,
this framework broadly, tackles land use and land management from three fronts: Land
Management, Land Utilization, and Institutional Framework for Land.

Problem Statement
219. Uganda is faced with problems and / or challenges of inadequate land use planning and
enforcement of land use regulations, unsustainable land use, rapid urbanization, poor
environmental management, inadequate natural resources/ecosystem conservation and
management. In addition, land use and land management, lies in many and different
bureaucracies managing isolated portions and aspects, which are often uncoordinated and
in competition with one another for recognition and resources. Thus, there are critical
overlaps in institutional responsibilities and insufficient collaboration among public
sector institutions and agencies. The reality is an institutional framework that does not
promote sustainable land development as it is an obstacle to rational, effective and
efficient management of land resources.

Policy Statement
220. A framework for the proper management of land resources shall be designed.

Strategies
221. Measures will be put in place to:
(i) develop and enforce adequate land use standards for development of the land
sector as a whole;
(ii) provide capacity, through training, to enable land management agents to function
efficiently;
(iii) deploy professional land auditors at local and community government levels to
monitor and enforce the implementation of land use standards;
(iv) set up and operationalize an effective forum for inter-sectoral consultation and co-
ordination of land sector activities;
(v) reform and design, new institutions, for effective and efficient land use and land
management; and
(vi) review policies related to all land-using sub-sectors to ensure complementarity with
the national land policy.

6.1 LAND USE PLANNING AND REGULATION

222. Physical planning is an important tool in the management of land under any tenure.
Indeed, it is the first step in land use management as it enables the State, local

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governments, communities and individuals to determine, in advance, the direction and


rate of progression of land sector activities by region and area.

223. Primary instruments for physical planning in Uganda have failed to provide adequate
guidelines for planning at the national or regional levels and implementation plans in
rural areas. Besides, local planning authorities, i.e. local councils, do not always have the
resources and technical capacity to plan and / or implement approved plans. A serious gap
exists between land use plan preparation, implementation and enforcement of land use
regulations. In addition, there is lack of a framework to handle land use conflicts.

Policy Statement
224. Government shall review and strengthen the framework for land use planning and
regulation.

Strategies
225. Through legislation and other regulatory measures, Government will:
(i) declare the entire country a Physical Planning Area for purposes for land use
development;
(ii) enforce compliance with land use regulations in urban and peri-urban areas;
(iii) integrate physical infrastructure policy (i.e. roads, transportation, and service lines)
into overall national and regional physical development planning schemes;
(iv) provide guidelines on zoning, subdivision, housing design and standards, provision
of socio-economic and physical infrastructure services;
(v) develop guidelines for land use plan implementation framework; and
(vi) review all relevant legislation on land use planning and regulation to ensure that
they are in tandem with the National Land Policy;
(vii) enforce land use regulations.

226. Other measures will be taken to:


(i) prepare a medium to long-term national land use framework for Uganda, setting out
broad land use expectations and strategies for land use management and land
development
(ii) design a framework and provide capacity for land use audits in rural and urban
areas to support national, regional and local land use planning;
(iii) maintain an inventory of land availability and suitability for specific users, as part
of the national land information system;
(iv) monitor growth of rural settlements with a view to providing infrastructure and
services;
(v) continuously monitor and evaluate the effects of public regulation on land sector
development;
(vi) integrate all urban economic activities, including urban agriculture and forestry,
into overall urban development planning;
(vii) educate the public on the overall goals and advantages of public regulation of land
use.

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6.2 LAND QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY ASSURANCE

227. Deterioration and degradation of land quality is one of the major problems in the land
sector. This is due to poor land use and management practices, severe soil degradation,
desertification due to climate change effects, serious wastage and pollution of land and
water resources and lack of adequate support services infrastructure, especially for
agriculture. There is an urgent need for land quality assurance measures and strategies to
reverse this trend.

228. Uganda is dominated by inefficient technologies of production and inappropriate land use
practices. Besides, population growth and the demand for land have resulted in excessive
fragmentation of land into uneconomic sub-units. It is important that clear guidelines for
productivity management are available to ensure food security for all Ugandans, and
surplus production for income generation and export earnings.

Policy Statement
229. The Government shall institutionalize mechanisms to restore, maintain and monitor
the quality and productivity of land resources.

Strategies
230. Measures will be put in place to:
(i) enhance the proprietary value of land resources by restoring and
maintaining the quality of land resources;
(ii) enhance the quality of land and land-based resources through sound land
use practices and appropriate conservation measures;
(iii) initiate programmes for rehabilitation of degraded lands through design
and implementation of prevention and management measures;
(iv) develop and implement programmes for the delivery of community-based
land management extension services
(v) promote individual and community participation in environmental action
by providing socio-economic and other incentives to induce sustainable land use
practices;
(vi) introduce appropriate and affordable technologies of production,
including the possibility of irrigation development in arid and semi-arid areas;
(vii) develop guidelines:
(a) to control land fragmentation by setting minimum acreage to be subdivided,
(b) on industrial waste disposal,
(c) for control of soil degradation,
(d) to encourage settlement in urban areas.
(e) to regulate sub-division of land in urban and rural areas to ensure use
optimality, of use, taking into account ecological and specific use factors;
(f) to facilitate the periodic consolidation and re-adjustment of land parcels to
facilitate optimal use.

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6.3 NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

231. Uganda faces a number of environmental problems, including the degradation of natural
resources such as forests, wildlife habitats, wetlands, fragile eco-systems (hilltops and
savannah woodlands), water catchment areas, river banks and water bodies as well as soil
degradation and pollution of land, air and water. Although policies and legislation exist to
address these issues, these have turned out to be difficult to implement due to
bureaucratic bottlenecks that impede efficient implementation and decision-making in the
land sector. Furthermore, there happens to be increasing political interference with the
implementation of environmental laws, particularly the NEMA Act (Cap. 153) and
regulations there under, and the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act.

232. Therefore, a major development challenge in Uganda is how to ensure sustainable use of
natural resources and restoration of degraded natural resources. These are often depleted
or degraded through indiscriminate excisions, unregulated harvesting, and encroachment
which results from politically-motivated investment promotions that hinder sustainable
use. In addition users of land on which natural resources are situated, are not aware of the
sustainable use practices, existing legal frameworks and mechanisms for restoration of
degraded environments. It is crucial that immediate steps be taken to restore the integrity
of natural resources and environmental management.

Policy Statements
233. (a) Government shall take measures to restore and maintain the integrity of
natural resources.

(b) Government shall enhance the effectiveness of the framework for


environmental management by strengthening environmental planning,
regulation, enforcement and monitoring.

Strategies
234. Measures will be taken to;
(i) design appropriate environmental standards for all production sectors;
(ii) develop a legal framework to promote participation of communities and other
stakeholders in the devolved management of natural resources;
(iii) mobilize communities and assist them to develop and implement action strategies
for effective enforcement of established environmental and natural resource
management standards;
(iv) develop programmes for the restoration of waste disposal sites, polluted
watercourses, and control of land use-related green house gas emissions;
(v) develop a framework for benefit-sharing between land resource management
institutions and authorities, and contiguous local communities;
(vi) provide special protection for fragile ecosystem, including unique and sensitive
biodiversity colonies, like hill tops, wetlands, water catchment areas, lake-shores
and river banks;

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(vii) develop a scheme of incentives that promotes participation of communities and


other stakeholders in the management of natural resources;
(viii) Strengthen enforcement mechanisms for natural resource regulations and carry out
public education on sustainable use and management of natural resource and the
environment;
(ix) Provide incentives and rewards that encourage maintenance and protection of
natural resources on privately-owned land.

6.4 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

235. Uganda does have a human settlement policy. Human settlements development (both
rural and urban) is inhibited by inadequate physical planning coupled with rapid and
haphazard development. Urban settlements, in the wake of rapid urbanization, is
associated with informal settlements, inadequate poor shelter, lack of infrastructure and
basic services, urban sprawl, infringement on prime agricultural land environmentally-
sensitive areas such as wetlands, hilltops, and lake shores.

236. For the National Land Policy, key concerns are as below:
(i) The need for planned rural settlements, that enable cost-effective location and
provision of services;
(ii) The need for regulation of estate development in human settlements, specifically in
urban and peri-urban areas, where the services of real estate agents are abetting
urban sprawl.
(iii) Land tenure regimes that allow for multiple rights and interests over the same piece
of land or bonafide interests that impede housing investments.
(iv) Rapid population growth and urbanization, in the absence of an urbanization
policy and human settlement policy.

Policy Statement
237. Government shall formulate a National Human Settlement Policy and National
Urbanization Policy to undertake comprehensive planning for orderly development.

Strategies:
238. Measures will be taken to:
(i) develop a comprehensive National Human Settlement Policy
(ii) ensure sustainable urbanization by developing a National Urbanization Policy
(iii) facilitate periodic consolidation and re-adjustment of land parcels for optimal use;
(iv) strengthen urban and rural land use planning processes to prevent land wastage or
sub-optional uses;
(v) regulate sub-division of land in urban and rural areas;
(vi) ensure that land for human settlement is properly planned and social services
allocated evenly;
(vii) ensure strict enforcement of land use regulations especially in urban and peri-urban
areas;

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(viii) create incentives to attract people to live in urban or nucleated settlements to free
land for development
(ix) put in place appropriate legal framework to facilitate and regulate urban
agriculture; and
(x) deploy land use planning and fiscal instruments to ensure idle land is used and
developed.

6.5 AGRICULTURE

239. In Uganda, agricultural production is mainly by small-holder production. Agricultural


land in Uganda has not always been optimally and sustainably used. Poor agricultural
practices are resulting into increased land degradation such as soil erosion and soil
nutrition depletion, de-forestation, over-grazing and water contamination. Land
productivity potential, land capability, and land sustainability for agriculture is not well
known. This makes it nearly impossible to allocate land to its most optimal uses.

240. The need for demarcation of agricultural zones of production excellence, based on
production potential and existing comparative advantages, is self-evident. Over-
population in some areas has resulted into land fragmentation, and over use, affecting
land quality, agricultural production and economic development. Land tenure security as
it relates to access and ownership remains a major menace among women farmers.
Finally, Uganda does not have an agriculture policy.

Policy Statement
241. Government shall regulate the use of land for agricultural production in tandem
with a National Agriculture Policy.

Strategies
242. Measures will be taken to:
(i) develop a comprehensive National Agriculture Policy;
(ii) promote and ensure viable zonal agricultural production to enhance production,
productivity and agro-processing;
(iii) make available an updated soil resource inventory at an appropriate scale
(iv) promote farming practices that reduce land degradation and enhance soil
productivity;
(v) encourage voluntary consolidation of agricultural land holdings to sizes suitable
for optimum, productive and sustainable use;
(vi) discourage socio-cultural, economic and other practices that degrade the quality of
rangelands;
(vii) discourage land fragmentation through education, incentives, laws and bye-laws;
(viii) promote sustainable use and management of water, soil and land resources which
is a critical factor for enhancement of agricultural production and productivity;
(ix) ensure secure access to land for agricultural production.

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6.6 MANAGEMENT OF LAND-BASED NATURAL RESOURCES

243. Uganda is pursuing various policies, which allow changes in land use of protected areas,
especially forests, wetlands and wildlife reserves. Management of protected areas is
largely in the hands of Government, which at the same time has had several policies that
have resulted in land use changes of these areas. The core problem in the conservation
and management of these ecosystems is the unsustainable exploitation arising from
conflicting land uses and inadequate enforcement of natural resource management
regulations. There is need to harmonize policies, laws and regulations dealing with land
based natural resources. Criteria for setting aside areas for conservation in the country are
not well-established or known. There are no mechanisms for resolving human/wildlife
conflicts. Policy and legal mechanisms for wildlife conservation outside protected areas
has continued to receive little attention.

Policy Statement
244. Government shall ensure that all land uses practices conform to land use plans and
the principles of sound environmental management, including biodiversity, soil and
water protection, conservation, and sustainable land management.

Strategies
245. Measures will be taken to:
(i) develop a harmonized criteria for gazetting and de-gazetting of
conservation areas, considering the following:
a. reason for which an area was gazetted no longer exists,
b. de-gazette to address historical or colonial imbalances,
c. de-gazette for the common good, or as agreed upon by Parliament
as a trustee of the Citizens;
d. a technical evaluation recommends change of land use;
(ii) establish and implement an effective mechanism for the management of
wildlife outside protected areas;
(iii) create incentives for community participation in conservation on
privately-owned land and participation in co-management of conservation on
public land;
(iv) recover, demarcate and provide guidelines to regulate use of hilltops and
sensitive eco-systems;
(v) develop mechanisms to resolve human-wildlife conflict.

6.7 CLIMATE CHANGE

246. Uganda is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997) both of which require collective domestic, regional
and international action to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions to levels which would
allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change. A new challenge for Uganda is
adaptation to the impact of climate change, as one of the most- affected countries.

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Policy Statement
247. Government will develop a framework for compliance with all international
commitments on management of climate change parameters.

Strategies
248. Measures in pursuit of that goal will include:
(i) regulate anthropogenic activities which generate greenhouse gas emissions such as
the burning of fossil fuels, forest fires, and destructive agricultural practices;
(ii) enhance participation in initiatives for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
worldwide;
(iii) mitigate while not compromising the need to growth and develop the destruction of
forests, water bodies, and other phenomena which act as sinks for green house
gasses;
(iv) encouragement and facilitation of the operations of civil society networks
concerned with ecosystem protection and preservation;
(v) promotion of efficient use of new and renewable resources and, in particular, the
exploitation and regeneration of indigenous sources of energy; and
(vi) capacity building for rapid response to and management of extreme events arising
from variability in climate parameters;
(vii) Provide for re-settlement of environmental refugees and
(viii) Initiate co-operation responses with neighboring countries on issues to do with
Kyoto Protocol and related issues, including adaptation to climate change.

6.8 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR LAND MANAGEMENT

249. Sustainable management and use of land-based natural resources cannot be achieved
without comprehensive reform of the institutional and administrative framework,
currently in force. Management of land-based natural resources lies within many and
different bureaucracies, uncoordinated and often in competition with one another for
recognition and resources for implementation. Thus, a multiplicity of institutions, with
varying responsibilities on land management, overlapping in mandates without clear
policy principles and guidelines, is self-manifest. This is because the framework has
grown in response to various political and economic concerns. For this reason, it is and
remains internally-fragmentary, conflictual and highly centralized. The institutional
framework for land management is, therefore, in dire need of reform.

Policy Statement
250. Government shall establish a harmonized and integrated institutional framework
for efficient use, appropriate stewardship and effective management of land based
natural resources.

Strategies
251. Measures will be taken to:

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(i) Refine and clarify the mandates of the different agencies charged with management
of land-based resources to remove overlaps, gaps and conflicts;
(ii) develop and enforce adequate land use standards for the management and
development of land based resources;
(iii) review policies related to all land-related sectors (and sub-sectors) to ensure
complementarity as well as compliance with the national land policy;
(iv) deploy professional land auditors at local and community government levels, to
monitor and enforce the implementation of land use standards;
(v) install and operationalize an effective forum for inter-sectoral consultation and co-
ordination of land use activities;
(vi) create land management structures that are efficient, cost-effective and
democratically-operated in a decentralization policy framework;
(vii) design and enforce precautionary but achievable performance standards for land
management;
(viii) develop capacity and an enabling infrastructure for evolution and implementation
of sustainable land use practices and land management.

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D. REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS

CHAPTER 7: REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK

Background Statement
252. Uganda is a party to a large body of international and regional conventions, treaties and
declarations dealing, with human rights issues, environmental and land governance and
shared aquatic, terrestrial and other trans-boundary resources. These instruments establish
the international framework for environmental and land governance and, in particular,
provide principles which countries party to them should implement.

255. Among issues identified in the instruments is the need to:


(i) reduce extreme poverty and hunger;
(ii) manage global climate change through domestic economic policies and strategies;
(iii) guarantee national food security;
(iv) conserve biodiversity and the environment;
(v) resolve resource conflicts arising from trans-boundary movements of population
and animal species;
(vi) ensure gender equality and equity;
(vii) protect the human right to adequate housing and other related human rights;
(viii) prevent forced evictions; and
(ix) guarantee security of tenure.
Land is, clearly, at the centre of all these issues.

Problem Statement
256. As Uganda develops closer political linkages with Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and
Burundi, many cherished domestic law principles will require re-visiting. One of these is
the fact that access to land is still linked not merely to territorial sovereignty, but
specifically to citizenship. In pursuit of the goal of a common market, there will be need
to harmonize laws, policies, regulations, and practices on land.

7.1 AREAS OF COMPLIANCE

257. Compliance with or implementation of regional and international obligations, within the
framework of domestic policy and law, requires that consideration be given to a number
of principles, which are part of international law. These are that:
(i) the instruments creating such obligations must have been freely acceded to, are not
oppressive or otherwise burdensome, and will confer benefits in excess of the costs
of compliance;
(ii) compliance is an act of comity, good neighborliness, mutuality and reciprocity;
(iii) compliance will enhance the growth and development of the national economy,
expand economic opportunities for Uganda’s citizens and is, therefore, a prudent
investment; and

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(iv) compliance will proceed at a pace which the social, economic and political
processes can be absorbed by the country and is not disruptive to long- term
development policies and plans; hence, will not introduce radical changes in
domestic institutions and structures.

Policy Statement
258. Government will comply with areas of policy convergence in land policy and strive
to re-align on divergent areas in land policy.

Strategies
259. Measures will be put in place to:
(i) Define areas of convergence in land policy for compliance, accepted for
implementation, excluding obligations that are repugnant to Uganda’s legislation;
(ii) Acknowledge the areas of divergence in land policy, for account and possible
legislative re-alignment;
(iii) To the extent possible, domesticate international conventions for standards and
values in land policy;
(iv) Monitor the level of implementation of all conventions to which Uganda is
signatory.

7.2 CONVERGENCE ON LAND LEGISLATION AND POLICY

260. Regional and international co-operation on land issues requires that Uganda should
anticipate the likelihood of convergence with its neighbours in important land sector
issues. These include policy and legislative development, governance of trans-boundary
and shared resources, management of population movements, and climate change
abatement activities. A comprehensive inventory of areas of convergence will be
necessary to establish a baseline for regional co-operation.

268. Although the statutory legal systems of East African countries derive from a common
heritage, significant variations exist in discrete areas. The most obvious of these relate to
access to land by non-citizens, the extent of regulation of the land sector, and the extent of
devolution of land rights administration and management functions. The possibility of
regional complementarity on land legislation will need to be explored.

Policy Statement
269. Government will explore the possibility of regional convergence on relevant land
legislation and policy within East Africa and the Africa Union.

Strategies
270. In order to generate such an inventory, Uganda will need to;
(i) draw on the enormous literature that has been built up through research on the
shared resources of the region;

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(ii) draw on efforts by the African Union to formulate common land policy guidelines
for its members countries;
(iii) initiate debate on the design and content of land policy guidelines for the East
African region; and
(iv) promote negotiations for the re-establishment of institutions for the management of
common services and resources for the East African region.

271. Preliminary steps will entail:


(i) progressive achievement of compliance on areas of legislative divergence relevant
to Uganda’s situation;
(ii) removal of all legislative barriers inhibiting access to land by citizens of the
Partner States of the East African Community;
(iii) the standardization of regulatory mechanisms in the land sector, account being
taken of the environmental implications of such regulation;
(iv) support for regional and continental initiatives for the harmonization of land law.

7.3 MANAGEMENT OF TRANS-BOUNDARY RESOURCES

272. Uganda shares many aquatic, terrestrial and other trans-boundary resources, and eco-
systems with neighboring countries, including grazing lands, water catchment areas, lake
basins, and river basins. In addition, several districts in Uganda share some eco-systems
of social and economic importance without structured systems for harmonious utilization
and overall management. Although treaties, conventions and customary practices exist in
relation to the management of these resources, some of these are of doubtful efficacy. A
new framework for the management of trans-boundary resources is, therefore, necessary.

Policy Statement
273. Government shall develop a framework for participation in development of policies
and protocols for management of trans-boundary and shared natural resources in
consultation with Partner States.

Strategies
274. It will be necessary to:-
(i) design and implement a system for the monitoring of the effects of trans-boundary
movement of migratory species on the environment;
(ii) negotiate and implement protocols for the protection of migratory species;
(iii) undertake voluntary abatement measures in respect of anthropogenic activities
which would upset the ecology of Lake Victoria and the Nile Basin; and
(iv) negotiate mechanisms for coordination and benefit-sharing of the resources of Lake
Victoria and Nile Basin.
7.4 CROSS-BORDER POPULATION MOVEMENTS

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275. Cross-border population movements are frequent as a result of conflict, ecological or


environmental stress, or interactive accommodation among cross-border communities
sharing common heritage and culture. A significant proportion of these populations
sometimes end up being classified as either refugees or internally- displaced persons.
Settlement or resettlement of such populations often leads to severe strains on resources
and/or serious environmental damage. A framework for the management of these
movements will need to be developed.

Policy Statement
276. Government will develop a framework to regulate, manage and minimize the
negative consequences and maximize the positive impacts of cross-border population
movements.

Strategies
277. Steps in that direction will involve;
(i) respect for regional and international conventions governing the settlement and
treatment of refugees and internally displaced persons;
(ii) negotiation of protocols for the reciprocal treatment and settlement of mass cross-
border movements; and
(iii) implementation of measures, jointly with neighboring countries, for effective
border management and supervision.

7.5 TERRITORIAL – BORDER DISPUTES

278. Currently, territorial- border conflicts, between the State of Uganda and its neighbours, do
commonly occur. These often manifest themselves as land conflicts between
communities in Uganda and its neighbours. It is now an international requirement that
neighboring countries clearly demarcate and sign border agreements to avert future
disagreements on the true positions of their borders. African countries are expected to
deposit up-to-date border agreements with the African Union by 2012, as part of a
broader framework to ensure harmony, territorial integrity, and completeness.

279. No demarcation exercise has been undertaken to affirm the status of border points and
markers, of Uganda territory, since the colonial period. Overtime, almost all international
border markers and identifiers, including control pillars for the entire Ugandan territory,
have been vandalized. It is now imperative for the State to re-establish and re-demarcate
its border to ensure protection of nationals and completeness of Uganda as a sovereign
State, with its people and the neighbours living in peace and harmony.

Policy Statement
280. Government shall instantaneously re-establish and re-demarcate the entire national
borders of the State of Uganda, in agreement with neighboring States.
Strategies
281. Measures will be urgently taken to:

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(i) carry out joint international border demarcation surveys with all neighboring
countries;
(ii) ensure signed border verification agreements are deposited with the Africa Union
by 2012;
(iii) regularly inspect and maintain border demarcation points, including pillars and
other identification marks;
(iv) sensitize border communities on the importance of international border
demarcations;
(v) amend the Survey Act to incorporate penalties for those involved in vandalism of
all survey marks, pillars and other identification marks.

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E. IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 8: FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND POLICY

Background Statement
282. It is important to emphasize that once formulated and approved as the framework for land
sector development, the National Land Policy must be implemented. The process of
implementation involves the conversion of the policy principles, statements and strategies
into a comprehensive programme of land sector reform. Lessons to learn from experience
elsewhere in Africa show that policy must be internalized and its values consolidated in
reform programme. Otherwise, transition of land policy documents to guidelines or
legislation often fails. The cost (both in political and economic terms) of inaction and
delay in implementation is the greatest of all challenges. Institutional co-ordination,
including monitoring, review and evaluation, are also an imperative.

Problem Statement
283. The first steps in this process will entail informing and educating stakeholders and the
public on the process and content of the policy (issues and statements contained therein).
Recognizing, the challenges stated, a number of principles are hereby proposed:
(i) Land policy formulation is not simply a technical and bureaucratic exercise, but
one which is essentially social, political and cultural, affecting deeply entrenched
values and practices.
(ii) Land policy implementation requires economic, social and political capital,
consisting of the will and commitment to reform, professional with adequate
infrastructure and services.
(iii) Land policy formulation and implementation requires full and participatory
involvement of stakeholders at all levels in the land sector.
(iv) Land policy implementation must be supported and facilitated by competent and
informed institutional arrangements, operating with targets and clear time-lines.

8.1 COSTING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND POLICY

284. An important step in the implementation of any policy is to cost it, i.e. assess its financial,
institutional, personnel, and infrastructure requirements. This will determine the pace and
sequencing of policy implementations. Such costing must be seen not merely as
expenditure, but more importantly as investment in a programme expected to re-vitalize
the land sector for immeasurable economic and social benefits.

Policy Statement
285. Government shall realistically cost and fund the land reform process in Uganda,
pursuant to approval by Cabinet of this National Land Policy.

Strategies
286. The process of realistic costing will involve:-

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(i) development of cost estimates for all activities or programmes anticipated by the
policy; prioritize and sequence these activities;
(ii) make an inventory of existing resource capacity in the land sector to determine
their usability and level of short-fall in the implementation of the policy;
(iii) assessing the capacity of existing systems and structures in place, which should be
able to kick-start land policy implementation, as new structures are being set up;
(iv) auditing existing and proposed new institutional structures to eliminate wastage
due to duplication, overlaps and unproductive competition among various decision-
making centers; assess the relevancy, appropriateness, efficiency and cost-
effectiveness of the proposed structures;
(v) Identification of the institutional and governance structures which are needed to
implement the reforms;
(vi) ensuring that the cost of implementation of the policy is fully- budgeted, as part of
land sector reform;

8.2 IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK

287. A critical challenge in land policy implementation involves the programming of its
various components. This entails the design of appropriate legislative, institutional and
preparation of a programme of activities based on the strategies, sequencing
implementation of programme components, and development and operationalisation of
specific indicators for measuring programme implementation effects. Because much of
this will involve other institutions operating on the basis of their own independent
calendars, programming must be preceded by the widest possible consultation with
government, the legislature, local authorities and community governance structures. In
addition, to be effective any agency taking the lead on NLP implementation must get the
close co-operation of other key ministries and agencies responsible for local government
and those in the land use and natural resources/environment sectors.

Policy Statement
288. Government shall undertake the preparation of a detailed Action Plan for
Implementation of the National Land Policy and implement it.

Strategies
289. Government shall take following measures:
(i) put in place a multiple-sectoral and multi-disciplinary committee to oversee land
policy implementation.
(ii) establish a Land Policy Implementation Unit by transforming the current National
Land Policy Secretariat, to spearhead programme implementation through research,
consultation, capacity building, and education;
(iii) propose a time-table for the review of existing legislation and institutional
arrangements in the land sector in accordance with the provisions of the national
policy;

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(iv) engage the legislature, the Attorney-General’s Office, the Law Reform
Commission and local governments with a view to presenting, as a comprehensive
package of all legislative measures required to implement the national land policy;
(v) design and strengthen structures for co-ordination of programme implementation
between land related sectors and other socio-economic sectors;
(vi) accord priority to the implementation of programme components that are key to the
revitalization of the land sector;
(vii) define the roles of the lead ministry, other key actors, including development
partners and non-state actors such as private sector and civil society;
(viii) Innovatively deploy personnel to the policy implementation unit under suitable
time-bound contractual terms that are attractive to results –oriented performance
and management.

290. Specific tasks of the National Land Policy Implementation Unit will include, among
others:
(i) Facilitation the drafting of all legislation necessary to implement this national
policy;
(ii) Establishment and reform of relevant institutions for the implementation of the
National Land Policy;
(iii) Mobilization of financial and other resources for effective and efficient funding of
the land policy implementation process;
(iv) Recruitment and training of required professionals and personnel in the
implementation of this national policy;
(v) Organization of civic education and public awareness creation for stakeholder
participation and understanding.

8.3 PUBLIC EDUCATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE LAND POLICY

291. Even though the national land policy will have been discussed and agreed to by a broad
spectrum of land sector stakeholders, it is important that awareness of the content of the
final document is further disseminated for stakeholder ownership and understanding. A
broad programme of education and awareness must be implemented through an IEC
Strategy throughout the country. This would ensure that the national land policy is fully-
understood.

Policy Statement
292. Government shall disseminate the National Land Policy after Cabinet approval.

Strategies
293. To achieve an operational level of awareness for the national land policy, action will be
taken to:
(i) translate the final version of the policy into all major indigenous languages;
(ii) train and build capacity of local and community leaders in the implementation of
the policy;

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(iii) implement the Land Policy IEC Strategy;


(iv) prepare materials for civic education and other materials for public education on
the policy;
(v) Comply and respect the right of access to information on the policy as well as land
policy implementation plans;
(vi) Ensure continued public debate and discourse on land issues, self-assessment and
feed-back on the land policy framework to secure confidence of those who use,
manage, and administer land resources.

8.4 STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

294. Successful implementation of the national land policy will depend on continuing support
and confidence of stakeholders. Stakeholder must participate and be constructively
engaged at all levels of policy implementation. Key stakeholders in implementation
include different government departments, development partners, private sector, civil
society organizations, professional bodies, and other non-state actors.

Policy Statement
295. Government shall involve all stakeholders, as partners, in implementation of the
National Land Policy for continuous legitimacy.

Strategies
296. In order to ensure that stakeholders are fully involved in land policy implementation,
measures will be put in place to ensure that:
(i) a platform exists for professional organizations to discuss changes proposed in the
land policy and to identify appropriate strategies for the programme of action
under it;
(ii) support of stakeholders is sought in the preparation, operationalisation of the
monitoring and evaluation framework;
(iii) structured technical and financial support is given to non-state actors;
(iv) development partners, the private sector and civil society are able to contribute
resources for the implementation of the policy;
(v) design a formal approach towards co-operation and co-ordination with non-state
actors, i.e. need to sign a joint statement of intent, partnership principles or a code
of conduct.
(vi) All stakeholder groups are aware of their roles in national land policy
implementation

8.5 MONITORING, REVIEW AND EVALUATION

297. Successful land policy implementation is to be built round land reforms in Uganda to
enable a faster rate of economic transformation. It is important, therefore, that visible
mechanisms be in place for monitoring progress and where necessary, selective revision
of some elements of the land policy. The monitoring and evaluation system will be based

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on appropriate national monitorable indicators, established for integrated monitoring of


the economy in general and the land economy in particular. The purpose of monitoring
and evaluation will be to assess the effectiveness of the policy in practice for attainment
of policy objectives, stated earlier as well as factors that determine policy performance
and outcomes.

Policy Statement
298. The Government shall institutionalize a monitoring, review and evaluation
framework for the implementation of the National Land Policy.

Strategies
299. To institutionalize monitoring and evaluation system, measures will be put in place to:
(i) develop and implement a national land policy implementation monitoring and
evaluation system;
(ii) develop appropriate tools for policy refinement and contextualization;
(iii) integrate land policy values and principles into political discourse of Uganda;
(iv) link the Monitoring and Evaluation System to other National Policy monitoring
processes for the National Development Plan;
(v) define roles and responsibilities of all key stakeholders and players in Monitoring
and Evaluation.

300. Maintain the consistency of the National Land Policy with all emerging land issues in the
country through;
(i) periodic reviews of the land sector and the policy by identifying persistent and /
or new issues requiring new or further policy interventions;
(ii) review of the principles and policy objectives of the National Land Policy at least
every ten years;
(iii) periodic review or as necessary, the National Land Policy Implementation Action
Plan and Strategies ;
(iv) Awareness creation for all stakeholders of policy prescriptions in respect of all
issues reviewed.

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