Many look beyond the city for land

Short of money to renovate her ancestral house in Punakha, a villager in Babesa sold 50 decimals of her wetland. With Nu 3,000 a decimal, it was a good deal in 1996 when construction  on wet land was not allowed. The land, which a Thimphu hotelier bought then had become a prime area today. Price for a decimal has reached Nu 1.5 million (M).

Main photo: Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, left, with President Joko Widodo in October 2019.  AP

Singapore/Jakarta | Hundreds of high-ranking retired military officers have taken Indonesia’s Minister for Defence Prabowo Subianto to court in an effort to resolve a long-simmering dispute over land.

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 8  – Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney has urged landowners in Nairobi to work with the Ministry to fill existing gaps in data that hampers digitization.

Speaking during a meeting with the Ministry’s Heads of Department, Karoney noted that the full deployment of Ardhisasa will rid the lands sector of cartels, fraudsters and middlemen.

Land is the most important asset in most parts of the world that people can own, including Uganda. In Buganda, land is the way of life as the kingdom’s cultural aspirations are based on land, hence titles like Ssaabataka for a prince who is going to become the Kabaka. Clan heads and elders in Buganda are known as Abataka. However, this scenario isn’t only prevalent in Buganda. Land is a major asset across the country. It is the biggest means of production since our economy is agricultural-based. 

Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo is entangled in a Sh4.5 billion bribery court row with investors behind the Tatu City real estate project.

The investors have accused Mr Kabogo of illegally holding onto five title deeds as part of a ploy to blackmail them into ceding a five percent stake in a section of the multibillion-shilling project.

The Government in 2017 put in place Guidelines for Compensation Assessment under Land Acquisition Act.

These proposals are for reform of laws relating to land acquisition by the Government, and they include the amendment to the Land Acquisition Act (Cap 226) in order to bring it into conformity with Article 26 of the Constitution of Uganda. This has remained a big concern among the citizens who lack clarity and specificity on how to deal with land acquisition issues.

Kiryandongo – Uganda – A team of police detectives attached to the Land Protection Unit, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), and the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) have arrested a senior lands officer, Kiryandongo District Land Board for land fraud that caused a forced displacement of thousands of natives off their land.

The Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC) is involved in a scuffle with residents of Kaskini, Kilifi County.

A report by the Nation on Monday, June 14 stated that the government parastatal is claiming ownership of 900 Acres which the residents state to have been given to them by the government in 2006.

The dispute began in 2014, when ADC laid claim to the land which had been occupied by locals for decades. 

President Yoweri Museveni has expressed dismay at the century long ‘‘very bad’’ Mailo land tenure system used in Buganda kingdom stating that it’s ''an evil system.''

"It’s not anywhere else in Uganda," Museveni said during the 32nd Heroes’ day anniversary at Kololo Independence grounds, Kampala, on Wednesday. 

President Museveni severely disapproved of the land tenure system that was adopted in the post-1900 Buganda agreement era.

He had heard from around the town that there was an elderly but vibrant woman selling a piece of her land in Nkozi, close to Uganda Martyrs University.

At the time, Nkozi did not have the status and population it does now. In 2003, a young Vincent Agaba acquired the land.

“A quarter of an acre at Shs3m,” he says.  Agaba was neither employed nor earning from any other source. It was from his pocket money that he saved money to acquire the sizeable land.

PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has revoked title deeds in respect of 11 farms with a total of 24,119 acres in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region which would be allocated to the people to be used for various activities including farming and livestock keeping

The president has also endorsed the revival of 49 farms on 45,788.5 acres that were nationalized, but the residents had no certainty of their status to the now dormant farmland, where a huge chunk of the farmland will be allocated to residents in the area for farming purposes.

The government has embarked on fresh negotiations with land owners in Amuru District to secure land for the establishment of a Shs70 billion irrigation scheme.

On Monday, Ms Brenda Akao, the spokesperson of the Water and Environment ministry, said their officials are in Amuru trying to secure land for constructing the facility meant to boost farming in the district.