Uganda Land Use __________________________________________________ This Page will guide you about Uganda Land , Land Use in Uganda, Uganda People and Land Management Systems, Land in Uganda, Uganda and its land estates, Land commission of Uganda, Uganda ministry of lands ans surveyors. As the Uganda Shelter Strategy revealed Uganda Land, there is no physical shortage of land in Uganda; the many difficulties related to land use in Uganda are a product of human interaction and its various facets, political, economic, social, administrative and legal. These all impinge upon human settlements and the human communities which create and depend upon those settlements. Experience in the Community Management Programme of Uganda, which seeks to strengthen low income community groups in their ability to take decisions about their own development, has shown that tenure of land (including legal instruments, prevailing attitudes, practices, and information) impinges directly upon community management training and the construction of communal facilities which is used as a tool of strengthening by Community Management Programme. Many people buy land without proper knowledge of the procedures. It is only after they have landed themselves into problematic transactions that they will now want to follow the right procedures. A more detailed understanding of land rights and how claims to land are actually made can make interventions far more responsive to the actual problems that people face. In displacement, people still lose land rights in the usual ways – disputes with neighbours, widows being evicted by in-laws, orphans having land grabbed by relatives, local authorities illegally seizing land. The poverty of displacement intensifies the difficulties faced by these victims. Most agencies limit themselves to seeking to understand how people use land (farming techniques), but more poverty is caused by losing land than by farming it badly.
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Land Tenure, legally and customarily is the relationship of ownership among people, groups or government with respect to land. Land tenure is a system with rules set by societies to regulate behaviour and use of land. Uganda Land tenure rules specify how property rights to land are to be allocated within people’s communities. The rules define how access is granted to rights to use, control and transfer land, as well as associated responsibilities, obligations and restraints. In short land tenure systems decide who uses what resources for how long and under what conditions. In Uganda, Land tenure systems are crucial aspects of social, political and economic structures. They are multi-dimensional, bringing into play social, technical, economic, institutional, legal and political aspects that are often ignored but must be taken into account. Land tenure relationships could be defined and enforced properly in formal courts of law or through customary structures in a community. Uganda is relatively a vast country with a lot of un-utilised and under-utilised land. Uganda’s land to a larger extent is fertile and very good for commercial agriculture and industrialization. Land in Uganda is in various tenure systems under which citizens and foreigners can access it, own and utilize it. The following are the Uganda Land Tenure Systems as enshrined in the 1995 Ugandan constitution: 1. Mailo Land System 2. Leasehold System 3. Freehold System 4. Customary land 5. Public Land 1.Uganda Land and the Mailo Land Tenure System: Land held under mailo tenure system is mainly in Buganda (Central region) and some parts of Western Uganda. The system confers freehold granted by the colonial government in exchange for political co-operation under the 1900 Buganda Agreement. Essentially feudal in character, the mailo tenure system recognizes occupancy by tenants (locally known as bibanja holders), whose relationship with their overlords is governed and guided by the provisions of the 1998 Land Act. Mailo land, like freehold is registered under the Registration of Titles Act. All transactions must therefore be entered in a register guaranteed by the state. Under this tenure, the holder of a mailo land title has absolute ownership of that land. Oneonly loses such ownership when such land is needed for national interests but still amicable compensations have to be done for a peaceful relocation. 2. Uganda Land Leasehold system: This is a system of owning land for a particular period of time. In Uganda one can get a lease from and individual, local authority or government for a period usually 49 or 99 years with agreed terms and conditions. The leasehold transactions, being essentially contractual allow parties to define the terms and conditions of access in such a manner that suits their reciprocal land use needs. A grant of land would be made by the owner of freehold, customary or Mailo or by the Crown or Uganda Land Commission to another person for an agreed period of time. The grantee of a lease for an agreed time is entitled to a certificate of title. 3. Uganda Land Freehold Land Tenure System: It’s a system of owning land in perpetuity and was set up by agreement between the Kingdoms and the British Government. Grants of land in freehold were made by the Crown and later by the Uganda Land Commission. The grantee of land in freehold was and is entitled to a certificate of title. Most of this land was issued to church missionaries and academic Institutions and some individuals. Freehold is the premier mode of private land ownership under English law. The Land Act recognizes it as one of the four regimes through which access to land rights may be obtained. Its incidents are defined to include registration of title in perpetuity and conferment of full powers of ownership that is the power of use, abuse and disposition. Transactions involving freehold land are governed by the Registration of Titles Act (Cap. 230). Very little land is held under freehold tenure in Uganda. Uganda Land Customary Land System: Under this tenure land is communally owned by a particular group of people in a particular area. Its utilization is usually controlled by elders, clan heads or a group in its own well-defined administrative structures. In Uganda, this land tenure is usually in the north, eastern, north east, North West and some parts of western Uganda. Over 70% of land in Uganda is held on customary tenure system. In such cases, people own their land, have their rights to it, but don't have land titles. Some tenants on such land allocate specific areas to themselves with known and defined boundaries usually marked by ridges, trenches, trees etc. Uganda Land Public Land System: Under this type of land tenure, the government owns land and has the right to lease it to any company or individual on specific terms and covenants. In most cases, land under this arrangement is not for settlement; it is basically for business and usually located in urban areas such as Kampala and other big towns in the country. Land cases are the most common disputes brought to legal assistance projects in Uganda, but dispute-resolution mechanisms are lacking. Helping to re-establish customary law courts and linking them to the state judicial system would make justice accessible, restore a sense of normality amid displacement and promote a system that will be essential on return |
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