Maravi

(DAILY MONITOR UGANDA) Land Bill sails through but the debate of landlessness remains

Land Bill sails through but the debate of landlessness remains

Your columnist made a lousy call last year that the Land Bill would not be reported out of Parliament. And so is the progression towards another unprecedented run for a fifth term by the incumbent. Like most terms of public debate, the narrative has been dominated by worsening relations between President Museveni and some segments of the population.

To understand regime psychology requires testing some of its most lofty propaganda- the Land Bill’s intent to protect bona fide occupants from unlawful and rampant evictions. It goes without saying at least in central Uganda that these evictions have mostly dominated large conveyances of the Temangalo type.

Typically, landlords make arrangements with owners of the land to “ring-fence” some land and avail it to bibanja holders. As the value of land increases especially in urban areas, a healthy market in bibanja conveyances is developing. Part of the purchase price is remitted to the legal owner of the land to process title work whether for a lease hold or a freehold interest.

The problematic cases are those where either of the parties has state security or an air of officialdom around them and want to circumvent existing practices. These have been joined by open criminality fostered by some of the language used to create mass hysteria and unnecessary populism driving a wedge between landlords and tenants.

There is a new category of the landless that the Land Bill will not take care of- tenants on formerly public land. It is “formerly public land” because most of this land has been “allocated” by the District Land Boards set up under the 1998 Land Act to manage public land. In a district like Kalangala for example, entire islands, the only public land left is vested in public agencies like the National Forestry Authority.

In Kalangala, the fate of these tenants is likely to flare up- as it is perhaps one of the first “districts” where land is likely to “disappear” in a few years. Nature, economic opportunities and misdirected government policy have all descended on what was once a critical formation area for rain; and had several spawning areas for fish into an exhibit of excesses.

My neighbour is a 71-year-old Mukiga or Mufuruki, to use 2009 parlance. Our first meeting in 2005 found him deep in a forest, where nature trails have been trodden by human beings for many centuries. Ours is only one of the few families that trace their roots in these islands since the 1200s. At the beginning of our interaction, my family and I had reasonable grounds to believe he was an encroacher.

There were so many strange things about our neighbour and neighbour(s), most of whom have since migrated since a series of skirmishes in these lands pitted the so called bona fide occupants – mostly squatters of the land by their new landlords- beneficiaries of allocations by the District Land Board.

Andrea is a wiry man- a neighbour from hell; the type that will not get along with anyone for any reason. In Andrea’s arse--nal- the tools he used to occupy the forest a mound hill under the canopy-- there were Spartan belongings- a panga which he uses to welcome guests and an indefatigable spirit that has seen him
clear eight acres of rainforest with his bare hands unaided.

Andrea has some implements which are inconsistent with his otherwise spare belongings. A shiny set of gum boots, pressed shirts and a first name basis with most government officials on the islands. I actually like his attitude and we have become friends after times when we really felt he was doing too much harm to a fragile portion of the islands up and until open spaces where hundreds of acres were cleared for the Bugala Island Palm Oil Project.

In Andrea’s hut, is a copy of the Land Bill published by Lands Minister Daniel Omara Atubo. Andrea on his better days kept on reassuring me, and sometimes my father, how his claims and emancipation lay with this land bill. We land owners of record tied by history and blood to this island did not understand how much power he possessed under the soon to be Land Act of 2009. Two strange things happened in 2008. As the bill made its first reading, the allocation of public land intensified.

It continued to early 2009- as in most Districts Land Boards can be summoned to do business at the behest of private individuals or public sessions. Andrea fell into a spat with the local political leadership who, in spite of all his ties to officialdom, denied him what the Land Bill promised: an allocation letter granting him some acreage in what is a fast shrinking rain forest.

This denial-- and I will mention Bafuruki for probably the last time-- was for “ethnic reasons”. Andrea’s vote is no longer important. Most of his co-allocatees have now moved on to the next marginal district. Bujumba did not exhibit swing tendencies that are relied upon by the fragile pro government majority to pad its electoral numbers. Andrea today is in the courts battling for some favourable definition of his “due share”- so will many others.

Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney and Counselor-at-Law Greenland Associates, New York
kssemoge *** gmail.com

Labels: LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, UGANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:56 AM