- Land tenure security has the biggest issues arising from the documentation and registration of land and there is still a low percentage of land registration.
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Government is reviewing the National Lands Policy that was approved by cabinet in 2013 to ensure an equitable, sustainable and productive land use.
This is according to Lands Minister Hon. Judith Nabakooba during the National Land Policy Platform, themed “Assessing the contribution of the National Land Policy to the Optimal Use and Management of Uganda’s Land Resources”.
This follows the identification of gaps, challenges and other emerging issues in its implementation after a study that was done by consultants under the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban development.
“I ask you to look at the core land administration functions and what can be done by the ministry in light of the development that we need in Uganda. Then we need to look at land valuation and taxation, under here, we can also look at land acquisition by government, secured lending, rent, land transactions land related taxes and rating. Also we can look at zoning and issuance of development permits to investors, housing and real estate development and construction management,” said Nabakooba.
“Land tenure security has the biggest issues arising from the documentation and registration of land and we still have a low percentage of land registration and so all stakeholders need to appreciate surveying and how it limits land disputes”, she added.
This is in her appeal to local government leaders especially local councils to become vigilant and get involved in issues pertaining to land grabbing to ensure that the rule of law is upheld amidst numerous unresolved land cases in the courts of law that have led to case backlogs.
According to Dr.Kobusingye Doreen, the lead researcher, new or missing issues and gaps have to do with the allocation and aligning with NDP III ,where there are still gaps in coordination among the agencies directly responsible for achieving the program's goal especially the Land Management sub-programme Agencies, lack of data to measure evidence-based programme performance and low levels of funding coupled with low staffing levels of the programme.
Others include, limitations on land sizes for planning purposes in reference plot and kibanja, lack of guidelines and standards of upgrading of urban centers, and limited digitization of natural resource management activities to solve the persistent challenge on encroachment.
Dr. Kobusingye also highlights that there are limitations on land sizes for planning purposes, continued encroachment and issuance of illegal land titles in Central Forest Reserves and Local Forest Reserves. For example, issuance of illegal land titles in Wetlands, which has triggered a swathe of litigation costs.