The Ministry for Lands, Housing and Urban Development has engaged stakeholders on various issues affecting land ownership and utilization in the country. The two days conference in Kampala discussed land development, tittle acquisition, land usage, and settling land disputes.
Some among the stakeholders involved include the World Bank, Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP), Participatory Ecological Land Use Management Uganda (PELUM), and the Buganda Land Board.
The meeting was attended by cabinet minister for lands Judith Nabakooba, and two state ministers Persis Namuganza, and Dr Sam Mayanja. Mayanja reminded attendees that the fruits of the conference will only be realized if they all individually and collectively make efforts to implement the plans and programs that have been discussed.
“You have been here for two days to learn more about our upcoming implementation strategy in order to secure land for shared prosperity. However, the Land Sector aims to overcome challenges of delays in registering land, curbing land evictions and resolve land disputes through issuing legal documentation,” Mayanja said.
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Mayanja added that there was need to build capacity for all land managers, fight fraud and forgeries to protect the genuine land owners, raise awareness on land matters, and close leakages on revenue collection.
“A number of laws are out dated and require urgent review. It will be important that they are amended to support the effective and efficient implementation of the land interventions. Therefore it is critical to provide capacity building, advisory services, undertake research and development for innovative solutions and services for the clients who are the common Ugandans,” Mayanja said.
CEDP Project Coordinator, Johnson Mukanga, said supporting efforts that will transform the livelihoods of Ugandan population in regard to land ownership is very important. Mukanga reminded participants of the duty to monitor implementation of the activities intended to modernize the land management function in the country.
“Today we as well popularize the activities reached upon by CEDP, a world bank funded project that has been in Uganda for the last 12 years, computerizing the land registry, constructed the national land information center among other achievements,” Mukaga said.
Mukaga, explained that before the computerization, many records were found not in good state. He said the duplicates that were made before computerization came in should also be electronically recorded. He added that CEDP plans to issue over 800,000 land titles within a period of one year to add on the approximately 2 million land titles already issued.
Moses Onen, the manager in Charge of Advocacy at PELUM Uganda complimented government efforts on behalf of agriculturalists for balanced development programs.
“As promoters of agro ecology, land plays a central role in agriculture. Therefore, our interest is in ensuring that land for farmers is available, free of conflict and secured. We believe that when the policies and laws are strengthened, the farmers will be in position to access and use the land for both shot and long term operators in agriculture,” Onen said.