The minister for lands and housing, Hon. Betty Amongi reveals that govt will be issuing 300 free milo land titles to bibanja holders in Kirema, Kibubu and Kitutu inNakaseke district.
The two
plots of land comprising block 260 Plot 383 measuring 41.175 hectares and plot
385 measuring 21.6 hectares were bought by govt at a fee of UGX.2BN which has
processed 300 land titles expected to be given out by the president, YK.M7 at
the launch of the programme in Buganda on Saturday this week in Nakaseke
district.
According to
Hon. Amongi, this is very historical and very important because the land
question in Buganda and Bunyoro and where milo land is can only be addressed if
bibanja holders are given registrable interests.
She states
that they have already start similar work in Kayunga, Nakasongola, Bunyoro,
Isingiro. Beyond buying land and titling it, they are also working with
landlords who still want to won their land with titles to issue them with
certificate of occupancy, as this will see bibanja holders have legal papers to
ensure that they are certified.
The minister
further mentions that they are collaborating with Buganda land board to see
that the exercise implemented by central govt does not conflict with a similar programme
run by Buganda kingdom.
However, the
board chairman Uganda land commission, Hon. Baguma Isoke attributes the current
land problems the country is facing to the British colonialists whom he says
distorted land owning system especially in the kingdom areas, creating an
aristocracy giving kingdoms square miles by the 1900 and 1906 Buganda and Tooro
agreements, which land belonged to individuals.
Isoke says,
the land Act provides for the formation of the land fund whose money is used to
buy out those historical free holds and milo in order to restore ownership lost
under the colonial legacy.
He emphasizes
the importance of these land certificates to tenants and confirms that in areas
with communal ownership, communal land certificates are being issued.
The
initiative by govt is one of the measures used by the state to curb historical
injustice on land coupled with illegal and rampant eviction that have been
going on in the country.
END