Course Code: TM 201

Course Name: Research Methods Test 1

LAND IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET IN MOST PARTS OF THE WORLD-

CHARLES PETER MAYIGA

Instructions: Read the passage carefully and answer all the questions that follow:

Land is the most important asset in most parts of the world that people can own, including in
Uganda. In Buganda, land is the way of life as the kingdom’s cultural aspirations are based on
land hence titles like “Ssaabataka” for the Kabaka. Clan heads and elders in Buganda are known
as “Abataka”. However, this scenario isn’t only prevalent in Buganda. Land is a major asset
across the country. It is the biggest means of production since our economy is agriculture-based.

This has led to incessant conflicts over it in most parts of Uganda today. The most recent being
skirmishes that led to the loss of lives in Apaa in northern Uganda. Besides land being the most
important means of production, what else is causing these conflicts? In my view, there are six
reasons, which I am going to elaborate:
The first one is the weaknesses in the Uganda Police Force to investigate and gather evidence
over land conflicts in a timely manner. The police are not equipped with the skills necessary for
this job. There might be a Land Squad in the Force. However, in most cases, they don’t
adequately investigate cases. In some other instances, some elements in the police side with land
grabbers leaving the public frustrated.

The second issue, and related to the police, is our court system. Courts depend on investigations
by the police to try cases. If the investigations are inadequate, there is only so much that the
 
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courts can do. However, this doesn’t absolve the Judiciary of any wrongdoing. Courts take too
long to dispose of cases. Many lawyers have land cases that stretch to more than five years while
others more than a decade. There is a High Court Division responsible for land, but it doesn’t
solve these cases on time.

More often than not, judges and magistrates don’t turn up or simply adjourn sessions. Judicial
officers are transferred before they finalize cases and then the newly posted ones have to study
files all over again, thereby frustrating the litigants.
The third issue is that of population growth. Uganda has the fastest growing population in the
world. Forty or 50 years ago, there was a lot of empty spaces across the country. Today, there
isn’t much land that isn’t occupied by people.

The need for land has increased its value - making it a very important resource than it was many
years ago. This inevitably leads to conflicts over land, as the growing numbers fight over the
same size of land.

The fourth issue is the fact that these population pressures have increased activities on the same
land. In the past, our grandparents would leave some portions of land to fallow in order to for it
to regain its fertility. That is hardly the case today. A family that could survive on one-acre 50
years ago, needs two acres today to grow the same quantity of food.
The solution here could be the promotion of animal husbandry in each household so that we use
animal waste to fertilize our land.

The fifth issue is the inefficiency and confusion in all the country’s land registries. There are
cases of double certificates of title over the same piece of land. Conveyance takes too long. It can
be very frustrating to verify land ownership and transfer land from one entity to another. There is
need to streamline operations in the Ministry of Lands to ensure that land registration and
general processing takes the shortest time possible.

 
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The last issue is political interference. Court orders are often times not respected by politicians.
Instead of strengthening the courts of law, politicians spend the best part of their time chiding
them. Everyone with a land problem thinks it should be solved by politicians, who give
contradictory directives to court rulings much of the time.

There is also the issue of compensations for land meant for public projects such as roads. The
government intends to amend the Land Acquisition Act (and possibly the Constitution) so that it
takes away people’s land prior to adequate and timely compensation. Government officials cite
delays and, interestingly, bureaucracy. This bureaucracy is created by the same government
officials in the first place.

Delays in land compensation processes are essentially caused by corruption. Public officials who
design these infrastructure projects rush to the same areas and purchase tracts of land well aware
that a project is going to be implemented there. Land prices go up and when the time for
compensation comes, they demand much more because they created artificial demand in the first
place. In some other cases, they leak government plans about the establishment of given
infrastructure thereby causing artificial escalation of land values.

Uganda experienced a lot of its infrastructural growth between 1950 and 1970 and land owners
were compensated adequately. No project failed to be delivered on time because of
‘bureaucracy.’ If this happened then, why isn’t it happening now? Taking away people’s land
without adequate and timely compensation is an infringement on the rights of citizens. The
government should, therefore, be protecting the rights of its people, not violating them in the
name of “development”.

Finally, there is a tendency to quickly blame Uganda’s land problems on the Mailo land tenure
system. Mailo land isn’t the problem as we have seen in Apaa, Teso and other parts of the

 
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country. Mailo land is actually one of the solutions to land ownership. Therefore, to solve land
conflicts, we should look at the six reasons cited above and find solutions to them. Any tinkering
with the law that is politically motivated will never solve land conflicts nor enhance
infrastructure development.

Required:

(a) Suggest researchable topic for this study giving clear variables.
(b) With the knowledge so far attained in research class, conceptualize the study giving clear
measurements of the variables.
(c) From (b) above come up with SMART Objectives of the study
(d) Describe the hypothesis of the study
(e) Describe the research questions for the study.

1a)

Land conflicts!!! The variable for this passage/study is a dependent variable and a dependent
variables depend on the factors affecting the study thus they directly affect the study.

Political factors:

 
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According to the study political interference affects because Court orders are often times not
respected by politicians. Instead of strengthening the courts of law, politicians spend the best part
of their time chiding them. Everyone with a land problem thinks it should be solved by
politicians, who give contradictory directives to court rulings much of the time.

Legal factors;

In the fifth issue is the inefficiency and confusion in all the country’s land registries. There are
cases of double certificates of title over the same piece of land. Conveyance takes too long. It can
be very frustrating to verify land ownership and transfer land from one entity to another. There is
need to streamline operations in the Ministry of Lands to ensure that land registration and
general processing takes the shortest time possible. This legally affects the study by the variable
being one of the factors leading/causing land conflicts. .

Economic factors:

In terms of owning land, according to the passage its said that Forty or 50 years ago, there was a
lot of empty spaces across the country. Today, there isn’t much land that isn’t occupied by
people.The need for land has increased its value - making it a very important resource than it was
many years ago. This inevitably leads to conflicts over land, as the growing numbers fight over
the same size of land. Therefore with the population growth the economic factor of the study was
affected directly due to the population growth.

Moderating variable:

Uganda experienced a lot of its infrastructural growth between 1950 and 1970 and land owners
were compensated adequately. No project failed to be delivered on time because of
‘bureaucracy.’ If this happened then, why isn’t it happening now? Taking away people’s land
without adequate and timely compensation is an infringement on the rights of citizens. The
government should, therefore, be protecting the rights of its people, not violating them in the
name of “development”. This variables affects the study.

1b)

 
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To a greater extent the variables affected the study thus each variable led to the cause of the
study the land conflicts.

1c)

To find out the efficiency of the government official to the case of land conflicts.

To gain knowledge on how the economy is affected by the land conflicts.

To identify the loop holes in the efficiency of Uganda Police Force in the study of land conflicts.

1d)

The relationship between the variables of the study and the land conflict is strongly negative thus
it’s a null hypothesis.the variables of the study directly affects the land conflicts case.

1e)

To what extent is the efficiency of the government official to the case of land conflicts?

a) very effective

b) effective

c) not effective

d) Not sure

e) less effective

To what exetent is the economy of the country is affected by the land conflicts?

a) Greater
b) Great
c) Less
d) No result
 
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e) Not sure

How efficient is the Uganda Police Force in the study of land conflicts?

a)very good

b) good

c) very bad

d) bad

c) not sure

 
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GOOD LUCK

 
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