Bunyoro land

A street in Hoima town. There is still free land in Hoima town that investors can take up. Photo by Felix Basiime

Ban on Bunyoro land titles provokes high emotions

(Feature published in Daily Monitor on February 20, 2012)

On realising that the discovery of oil had resulted in scramble for land, the government decided to put a ban on land titles in Bunyoro sub-region.

BY FELIX BASIIME

Confusion reigns in the oil-rich Albertine Graben as regards a “government moratorium” on land titles.

“Our people when they go to Entebbe (National Lands office) with applications, they are told there is a ban on Bunyoro” says Hoima district chairman, Mr George Bagonza, adding, “This has affected development as people can’t easily use reliable mortgages in banks”.

But things could be about to become much clearer. State minister for Urban Development, Ms Justine Kasule, says her ministry has finalized a program for selected development plans and that it may come into force this year. 

“We have made it stringent. The standards may appear to be so high. When we relax we shall not achieve much” she observed recently in Hoima when she was meeting physical planners from the sub region.

But political leaders in the various local governments, some of whom dispute the existence of the moratorium, may take some convincing.

Kasule says the program will guide land use, settlements and infrastructural developments in the area, which has been proved to have commercially viable oil deposits.

She says besides developing a land use policy, the ministry of lands, housing and urban development has created a department for land use planning and developed national physical planning standards.

A couple of years ago government issued a moratorium on issuing fresh land titles in the sub region following several land wrangles and water fall applications that heaped at land offices in recent times.
 

But the land boards and political leaders of Hoima and Buliisa districts say they have never received any official communication from the ministry on the matter.

“Which law will they use to deny people to title their land? We are functioning normally. We have not yet received any communication to that effect” the Buliisa District land board chairman, Mr Sabiiti Tundulu says.

But Hoima mayor, Ms Mary Mugasa says, “For me I don’t think the government ban is on all Bunyoro land, it came after the people in Bugoma and Kyangwali had encroached on government land, forest reserves, and army land. But some people in Hoima town are still getting titles”.

“Land, this is one thing that the oil industry is going to face as a challenge, land here is owned communally, so no one can sell land, I as the leader of Buliisa sub county, have never received any government circular as regards a ban on land titles” said Mr Kubalirwa Nkuba, the LC III chairman.

It is this scenario that is somehow hampering development in the area as individuals try to strategise themselves in the budding oil industry.

State minister, Ms Kasule says cases of land grabbing and unplanned developments had begun to emerge which prompted government to come up with a directive that will regulate land dealings in oil areas which will be planned under a special program.

Kasule however said district land boards in Bunyoro have ignored the ban and are going ahead to process titles in the prohibited areas.

“I have been told that some people are conniving with members of district land boards and some officials in the lands ministry to process fake titles. Tell whoever is doing this to stop it. Let them not con people because they will turn against them” Kasule told physical planners.

Oil exploration in the sub region has discovered 2.5 billion barrels of oil in place but of this, only 1 million is recoverable. Tullow Oil, the company contracted by government in oil production is at appraisal stage for the oil wells.

The discovery has made some influx of people into this region in search of land, trade and jobs but many won’t do big business if government does not lift the ban soon.

There are people in this sub region who think that the government’s moratorium is useless and ineffective basing on the historical land factors of Bunyoro.

“I think the moratorium is a hoax” says Mr Yolamu Nsamba, the Principal Private Secretary to the King of Bunyoro. He adds, “So much land here is in forests and game reserves, so the ban has no impact”

But the spokesperson for the Lands Ministry, Mr Denis Obo insists that the government’s moratorium is on and is “Not to issue land titles until the rightful indigenous people are registered”

“We are looking for a permanent solution to the Bunyoro land question, so we have suspended issuing of even certificates of customary land, free hold or any other until this is sorted” Obo told this paper last week.

“Some seek Leaseholds while others seek Freeholds titles, ultimately we want to see how the locals can co-exist alongside the oil developers” Obo further explained.

However, this raises some constitutional questions of land ownership in Uganda where the constitution grants a willing buyer and willing seller to settle anywhere in the country.

“The constitution allows any Ugandan to get land anywhere in Uganda, so all this is challenging and we have to seek a legal advice from the Solicitor General to see whether what we are doing is legal” says Mr Obo.

Basing on the fact that the Uganda Constitution Article 244 (2) provides that: “Minerals and mineral ores shall be exploited taking into account the interests of the individual land owners, local governments and the Government”, some individuals may lose out if the land question is not solved early than expected.

Ethnic land conflicts

Bunyoro has been a hot bed of land and ethnic conflicts between Bakiga and Banyoro in Kibaale district, the Bagungu and pastoralists in Buliisa district and lately the Alur and the pastoralists in Kigorobya Sub County in Hoima district.

The parties in Kigorobya are feuding over land demarcations.

“Police has held various meetings with these communities under the community policing program but they have failed to come to a consensus” the Midwestern police spokesperson Ms Zurah Ganyana says. 

The land under dispute is adjacent to Taitai oil well.

Mr Anatoli Kyamanywa, LC I chairman of Runga village, the epicenter of clashes in Kigorobya says 

“There has been increased rush for land by people from all walks of life in areas adjacent to oil sites as perspective landlords anticipate to get royalties when oil is discovered on their land”.

Call for free land titles

There is a call from some sections of people in Bunyoro requesting government to survey and title all land in Bunyoro and offer free land titles to the Banyoro to curb rampant land wrangles that has escalated since the oil discovery in 2006.

Mr Shem Byakagaba, the chairman Kitara Heritage Development Agency says the directive on titles is being done at the detriment of the locals.

“Processing a land title in Uganda costs about Shs 1.5 million, so this halt is not enough, government must move faster and protect the people who can’t afford tittles and should avail tittles to them” reasons Byakagaba.

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