MPs Decry Under Funding of Land Compensation

The Parliamentary committee of Physical Infrastructure has raised fears of more land evictions if the government fails to provide Sh137bn to Uganda Land Commission (ULC) to compensate Landlords in areas infested with land disputes across the country.

The commission asked for 137bn to settle land disputes but only 17 has been allocated by the ministry of finance which irked MPs

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While presenting the Uganda Land Commission Budget Framework Paper ( BFP) for 2023/2025, before the committee of physical Infrastructure, the state for lands minister(Urban Development), Obiga Kania decried a huge funding gap of 120bn for land Compensations.

Obiga Kania explained that the Commission will not be in a position to make payments to absentee landlords resulting in court cases, and eviction of lawful and bonafide occupants. This according to the minister is likely to escalate the evictions of Tenants.

ULC also complained about the huge funding gap of the funds needed to carry out sub-division surveys of the land and process land titles for the occupants on land that has been acquired by the government. Although the commission sought Shs10bn only Shs3bn has been allocated. Daniel Mugulusi the ULC undersecretary noted that ULC has been acquiring land since 2006 but up to now they have not subdivided it to get land titles for bonafide residents.

MPs on the committee expressed concerns over the lack of government commitment to reign over massive land evictions by allocating of less funding to ULC to compensate the landlords.

Members questioned the importance of the Land fund that was created to save funds for settling land disputes, wondering why the fund is ever lacking sufficient funds for the task. Legislators noted that the land fund has not been operationalized to compensate landlords in Buganda where land evictions are rampant.

ULC presented a total budget proposal of sh 27.882b, comprising of sh 1.062b wage bill, sh 1.22b non-wage, and sh25.6b for government development expenditure.