KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN LAND ECONOMICS

LAND POLICY STUDIES

LECTURER: Mr. MWESIGYE SIMON PETER

NAME OF STUDENT: MWESIGYE SARAH DOROTHY

SIGNATURE: …………………

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 16/U/4130/BLD/PD

Task: How sensitive and responsive is the Uganda National Land policy to the rights of
girls and women?
Uganda’s National Land Policy, which was approved by Cabinet in February 2013, provides a
framework for articulating the role of land in national development, land ownership, distribution,
utilization, alienability, management and control of land in Uganda.(MLHUD, 2006)
Land is central to human existence and contributes greatly to social economic transformation and
development of the country. The Land Policy articulates a number of reforms geared towards
having a streamlined land sector, which contributes to growth in agriculture, industrial, and other
productive sectors.
Some of the key guiding principles of this National Land policy include:
1) Equitable access to land for all citizens of Uganda to hold, own, enjoy, use and develop
either individually or in association with others:
2) The other is to ensure equity and justice in access to land irrespective of gender, age
disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom.(Ministry of Lands,
2013)
The National land policy also recognises that women are generally unable to own or inherit land
due to restrictive practices under customary land tenure or are not economically endowed to
purchase land rights in the market. The customary practices in some areas of the country
continue to override statutory law in recognition and enforcement of women’s land rights.
Attempts to redress these issues through the legislative channels of the 1995 Constitution and the
1998 Land Act Cap227 have not been effective due to failure of implementation and
enforcement.
The National Land Policy also makes various commitments in this fight for girls and women’s
rights to land which include the following:
 Ensure equity in the distribution of land resources and preserve and conserve land for
future generations by ensuring that the transfer of land under all tenure regimes does not
deny any person rights in land on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity, social and economic
status.
 Government shall: (i) Modify the rules of land inheritance under customary land tenure to
guarantee gender equality and equity and (ii) Make provision for joint ownership of
family land by spouses;

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  Develop guidelines and procedures under customary land norms, values and customs for
the allocation and distribution of land complying with the principles of equality and
natural justice;
 Government commits itself to protect women’s and children’s legal right to inherit and
own land; and (b) Government, further commits to ensure that both men and women
enjoy equal rights to land before marriage, in marriage, after marriage and at succession
without discrimination.
Government further commits itself to review and regulate cultural norms, values and
practices in access to and ownership of land, through a number of actions including;
 Ensuring that rules and procedures relating to succession do not impede transmission
of land to women, girl child and children;
 Educating and sensitizing the public on discrimination against women and girl child
with respect to access, use and ownership of land;
 Reviewing and regulating customary rules to avoid violation and abuse of family land
held in trust for the family among others.
The above commitments are among many others that the governments states in the national land
policy all of which indicate how sensitive the government of Uganda is sensitive to the land
rights of girls and women.
The constitution stressed three inter-related principles: non-discrimination, gender equality and
women’s empowerment.
The key in relation to women’s rights are:
The Uganda Constitution under Article 31(1) entitles women and men to equal rights during and
after marriage. Article 21 states that all people are equal before the law in all spheres of political,
economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of
the law.
In addition to this, Article 32 of the Constitution mandates the state to take affirmative action in
favour of groups marginalized because of gender or any other reason created by history, tradition
or custom.
Article 33(4) further provides that the state shall provide facilities and opportunities necessary to
enhance the welfare of women to enable them to realize their full potential and advancement.

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Implementation has been poor primarily due to discriminatory social/cultural practices, women’s
limited access to justice and women’s lack of awareness of their rights.
However, while the Constitution provides for gender equality, it does not specifically or
explicitly recognize women’s land and property rights.
The Land Act Cap 227 contains several provisions that provide for security of tenure and
safeguard the land rights of women and children. The most significant are section 28, which
makes it unlawful to discriminate against women and children in respect of ownership,
occupation and use of any land, and section 40, which requires mandatory consent by spouses to
transactions involving matrimonial land (where the family ordinarily resides) and land from
which the family derives sustenance. The provision also covers minors, dependent children of
majority age and orphans. The Land Act also provides for the mandatory representation of
women on land tenure governance institutions for example the Uganda Land Commission should
have at least one female member out of five members, one third of the membership must be
women on the District Land Boards and at least one third of the membership must be women
(out of five) members on the Area Land Committees.
The policy environment in Uganda further embraces gender equality and equity through the
National Gender Policy (2007) as well.
To ensure that the land policy’s pledge to protect and enhance the land rights of vulnerable
people, including women and children, through remedial actions against historical and cultural
injustices and inequalities, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has
developed a National Gender Strategy on Land. It is aimed at guiding implementation of the
National Land Policy, outlining clear actions and undertakings for all land policy, sector
stakeholders to ensure that all land rights and other gender- related reforms are included in
programme design, planning, budgeting and implementation.
The full enjoyment of land rights by women and other vulnerable groups must be secured
through a variety of tools and a series of discrete steps: recognizing rights (through policies and
laws, awareness raising), recording rights (registration & titling, certification), defending rights
(access to justice and legal aid) and realizing rights (enforcement and recognition).
The Gender strategy on Land for the National Land Policy has put in place various strategies and
interventions to achieve the set targets and commitments that include but are not limited to the
following:

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  ensuring effective participation of women in decision making processes,
 combating intersectional and multiple forms of discrimination,
 Harmonizing existing laws, policies and programmes among others, all of which indicate
the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Uganda National Land policy to rights of girls
and women.

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References
Ministry of Lands, H. and U. D. (2013). Republic of Uganda the Uganda National Land Policy.
(13). Retrieved from http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/uga163420.pdf
MLHUD. (2006). The Gender Strategy for National Land Policy Implementation.