LAND AND GOVERNANCE

Why government failed to implement the Land Act 1998

By Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa

SINCE mid last year, our local media has been a washed with articles opposing or supporting the amendments to the 1998 Land Act. Yes, it healthy since individuals are entitled to their own opinions. But to majority Ugandans the most pressing question could have been, why did government fail to implement the Act in the first place? We all agree that for a lay man to consider any law effective it has to be fully implemented. The controversial land amendments to the Land Act 1998 have caused storm across the country simply because there is wide spread suspicion that the amendments may not be implemented as it is to the original Act. A total of 35 amendments have been made in the original Act of 98 sections since 2001 but they have not helped either. I have done a self-assigned survey and discovered the following. To begin with, Government brought the Act to achieve two cardinal objectives: providing security of tenure to all land users particularly the so called lawful or bonafide occupants on registered land. And also to resolve the land use impasse between the registered owners (mailo), freehold and leasehold and the lawful and bonafide occupants of this land. Ten years down the road, such problems still exist despite the existence of the Act. And these are the same issues government base on to front the fresh Land Amendments. The Act requires tenants to get certificates of occupancy and none has ever received one. Ministry of Lands records indicate that in the last two years, over 50,000 people have illegally been evicted from their land. When the land Act[1998] was still a Bill, from day one, it was received with a lot of apathy, suspicion, fear and outright rejection particularly from Buganda kingdom and the opposition legislators of the 6th parliament. This even prompted the kingdom to call off Kabaka Mutebi's fifth coronation anniversary and started months of mourning. The then Katikkiro Joseph Ssemwogere even reached to the extend of accusing President Museveni of forgetting the significant role Buganda played in bringing him to power. To refresh your minds, the critics of the land Act 1998 then raised complaints that the Bill then was not given enough time to be scrutinized and debated. Because of unclear reasons ,government hurriedly published the Bill very late on March 2nd, 1998 targeting to make it law by 1st July 1998.This is almost a similar scenario Ugandans are yet to witness this time round. And it may not be surprising very soon to seen the unsatisfied interested groups even with in parliament trying to overturn the law or its part by tabling another set of amendments in the House , recourse to the constitutional Court, or cause civil disorder. It happened in 1998 after the enactment of the Act, the then Makindye East MP Benedict Mutyaba raised an alarm saying the Land Act had been doctored. Mutyaba seem to have known about the plot since he was the head of the parliamentary committee that debated the land bill. Another issue was on the lack of capacity by the line ministry to make all its departments do their work for the proper implementation of the law. The establishment of District Land Boards by January 1999 and the Land Fund by July 2, 1999, were requirements under the Act but unfortunately by January 18th 1999 only 18 Districts of the 45 then had set up land boards.
The heaviest burden of implementing the Act was with the districts and the latter have suffered serious capacity short falls. Many districts have proved to be unable to recruit qualified technical staff for District Land Offices and therefore unable to perform adequately and provide services necessary for many aspects of land reform. And with the increase in number of districts to over 80 now and with the meagre resources from the centre, the situation has worsened. The Land Act requires each district to recruit five professional staff including a Surveyor, a Land Officer, , a Valuer, a Physical Planner and a Registrar of Titles But the most disgracing thing is that only 16 districts out of a total of 45 had Land Offices by 2000; only one of these had a Physical Planner, none of them had a Valuer and only a few had District Registrars of Titles. And even today the personnel lack tools and a living wage, which are factors in determining the proper delivery of services. And if such issues are not considered whether the reforms are good or bad, the implementation of the new amendments are bound to flop.

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