Monday, April 30, 2012
DEBATE REGARDING LAND EVICTIONS IN UGANDA
Civil Society Decries Continuous Land Evictions in the Uganda
Civil Society Decries Continuous Land Evictions in the Uganda
Published: April 23, 2012
A coalition of civil society organization has decried the continuous
land evictions across the country that has subsequently caused
violation of fundamental rights. Under the Food Rights Alliance, activists today embarked on a campaign that intends to the indiscriminate land evictions by individuals, private and public entities that have left many Ugandans landless.
The National coordinator Food Rights Alliance Agnes Kirabo says that
despite the recent amendment of the Land Act, families have been
evicted from land by relatives, Investors and government in the name
of development which has subjected the vulnerable children and women
to untold suffering. Kirabo reiterated that the campaign that is geared towards initiating public debate on land rights was prompted by the adverse consequences of
evicting families without giving them alternative land since land is
the source of livelihood for all. The Vice Chairperson of the Food Rights Alliance Bridget Mugambe suggests that land should not be considered as an incentive for
investors saying this will put many Ugandans at risk of being evicted
from land under guise of investment. The National Land campaign that will be engaging academia, policy makers, and religious organizations aims at the land tenure governance in Uganda supports food security, Poverty reduction and environmental protection.
It is the image of land which has been vacated by former occupants.
The photo above clearly shows graves where bodies have bee exhumed and re-located. These developments are common today as land use changes.
The Plant which is planted in some parts of Uganda to demarcate the boundaries of land.
You can imagine the rate at which developers put up houses in Uganda. Above are 5 houses which are all about to be completed in the same locality. By the time of elections, these houses were not yet in place, however, shortly after elections the construction took off and is still on going. This type of development in many instances leaves people worried, as poverty forces many to sell off land and eventually, they are thrown into real poverty.
While land grabbing is real in Uganda today, there are instances where some people in Uganda take it as if their right to grab land and make developments there. This type of people when attempts are made to evict them, they are so big headed and more often than not want to resort to higher authorities, when Food Land Alliance comes up with a Register for all evicted from land, I think it does not give the right picture.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
A LETTER TO MEMBERS OF UGANDANS AT HEART
As you are aware there are four complicated forms of landownership in Uganda unlike in developed nations which reduced to only two, namely, freehold, leasehold. In Uganda we have the former plus two , that is, mailo and customary. Given the change of circumstances the latter, that is, mailo and customary are likely to be absorbed into the former, that is, freehold(mailo likely to take this form) and leashold. There are number of pieces of legislations regulating land ownership Uganda. However, the most essential pieces are (a) Land Act 1998 (Ch 227), (b) Land Acquistion Act 1965(Ch 226) and (c) Registration of Titles Act 1924(Ch 230).
As regards the issue of recent so called ‘ Mengo evictions’, it first and foremost depends on how the deprived parties obtained that land; were they granted (a)leasehold? Or b) freehold(?). If any of those, did they bother to register their titles? Or Is it so that the land in question was obtained fraudulently? If you are granted either a freehold or leasehold, you can’t just be evicted abrutly without an advance notice. The notice can be served to you provided you breach the covenant(e.g failure to pay rent) between you and your landlord (previous land lord if bought freehold). However though served a notice to vacate, the landlord must seek a court order to lawfully evict you. Most land disputes are handled by land tibunals, but if unsuccessful at the tribual level,then the high court, a court which also deals with emergency situations which may require the deprived party to seek an injunction. So I don’t know well whether the Mengo victims were lawfull freeholders or leaseholders and what exactly transpired. Did they, for instance, acquire the land fraudulently or just breached the covenant with their landlord(the Kabaka)?
The following section is a good authority on eviction of tenants:
PART XII—ACTIONS AND OTHER REMEDIES S.176 Registration of Titles Act 1924(Ch 230)
176. Registered proprietor protected against ejectment except in certain
cases.
No action of ejectment or other action for the recovery of any land shall lie or be sustained against the person registered as proprietor under this Act, except in any of the following cases—
the case of a mortgagee as against a mortgagor in default;
the case of a lessor as against a lessee in default;
the case of a person deprived of any land by fraud as against the person registered as proprietor of that land through fraud or as vb against a person deriving otherwise than as a transferee bona fide for value from or through a person so registered through fraud;
the case of a person deprived of or claiming any land included in any certificate of title of other land by misdescription of the other land or of its boundaries as against the registered proprietor of that other land not being a transferee of the land bona fide for value;
the case of a registered proprietor claiming under a certificate of title prior in date of registration under this Act in any case in which two or more certificates of title may be registered under this Act in respect of the same land,
and in any case other than as aforesaid the production of the registered certificate of title or lease shall be held in every court to be an absolute bar and estoppel to any such action against the person named in that document as the grantee, owner, proprietor or lessee of the land described in it, any rule of law or equity to the contrary notwithstanding
The best thing to do at the moment is perhaps to enact a new piece of legislation which require compulsory registration of titles(perhaps computerized?), just to curb the increase of fraud involved in acquiring land titles in Uganda and regulation of relationships) between the landlord(s) and tenant(s). England and Wales have very formidable pieces of legislation, that is, Land Registration Act 2002 and Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, which address those problems decently.
OPEN LETTER ON THE LAN (AMENDMENT)BILL 2007
Posted on 27 November 2009
Dear Honourable Members,
I write further to Owek. Katikkiro’s letter to you on the Land (Amendment) Bill 2007 that is presently on the floor of Parliament.
The kingdom recognises the fact that there are many people suffering violent evictions from their homes and that ancestral grounds are being desecrated in gross violation of our cultural norms. However, we do not consider that the Bill addresses the twin evils of corruption and impunity, which are the root cause of the rampant evictions across the country. Rather than solving the problem, this Bill sows the seeds of many more problems in the future. It is bound to set communities against each other and further divide our people along social and economic lines. Instead of helping people to live together in harmony, the Bill will exaggerate latent fault lines in our society and foster hatred and violence that may take generations to resolve. You must be aware already of the unfortunate cases where some occupants have killed innocent landlords to protect their interests.
In our view, the solution to illegal evictions lies in the enforcement of the current laws and not in passing of new ones. There is nothing today that stops the Police or other security organ from arresting, detaining and prosecuting individuals that illegally evict occupants of land. The Constitution of Uganda Art. 237 (8) and the 1998 Land Act guarantee security of tenure of lawful and bona fide occupants. This position has been reconfirmed by the Supreme Court of Uganda in the cases of Kampala District Land Board vs National Housing and Construction Corporation CA no. 2 of 2004 and Kampala District Land Board vs Babweyaka and 3 others CA No. 2 2007. In view of this, it is clear that the Bill is superfluous.
The Bill compounds the problem of Buganda’s expropriated land including the 9,000Sq miles that remain in the hands of the state. By entrenching the rights of all sorts of occupants of that land and making it impossible to remove them, except for non payment of ground rent, the Bill in effect completely alienates the said land and renders any “negotiations” for its eventual return futile. This, plus the fact that bibanja holdings are found mainly in Buganda makes the Bill particularly problematic for Buganda. Yet there are no limits on the size of bibanja.
We also consider that the failure to fully operationalise the 1998 Land Act must be addressed. The Bill will not have any real effect if the Land Act itself is largely dysfunctional. Substituting the role of the district land boards for example, with the minister in charge of lands can not be a solution to the problem.
Thus, like many other groups and individuals in the country, the Kingdom of Buganda opposes the Bill and presented its views to the Physical Infrastructure and the Legal Committees on April 10, 2009. We highlighted the dangers that lurk within the Bill and proposed an ideal, “win-win”, solution to the problem of violent evictions founded on the uniform and strict enforcement of existing laws. Sadly, it would appear that the Committee did not give adequate consideration to this presentation.
Land affects all of us. We relate to it culturally, socially and economically. Land nurtures us, sustains us and ultimately entombs us when we pass on. This makes land rights a very sensitive issue that should not be unnecessarily politicised or decided upon in haste. I urge you to consult widely with your constituents and to search your conscience before making a decision. Please take note that your decision shall affect the cultural, social and economic wellbeing of millions of people in this generation and in generations to come. I trust that you understand the value and wisdom of broad consensus in matters such as this one – for it is consensus that bestows any law with legitimacy. This is truly a matter which calls for patriotism over partisanship or politics. Above all, take note that in casting your parliamentary vote, you stand before the Court of Posterity.
Honourable Member, the people of Buganda and Uganda count on your wisdom and integrity and trust that, together with your Honourable colleagues, you will handle this Bill objectively in order to engender peace, order, development and good governance in Uganda as prescribed by Article 79(1) of the Constitution.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Mr Makubuya is the Attorney General of Buganda Kingdom
ST JOSEPH CATHOLIC PARISH LWEZA TO CELEBRATE PARISH DAY 6TH MAY 2012
ST JOSEPH CATHOLIC PARISH LWEZA TO CELEBRATE PARISH DAY 6TH MAY 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
CAN THE MINISTRY OF WORKS OR UNRA PUT A STOP SIGN POST AT THE JUNCTION TO KAJJANSI AIRSTRIP?
Saturday, April 28, 2012
CONSULTATIONS WITH COMMUNITIES OVER THE SOUTHERN BYPASS STARTED MID APRIL 2012
A VERY WELL MADE DECISION TO HAVE DR. MOHAN TRAIN DOCTOR LOCALLY
Dr. Mohan Keshavamurthy
MS (General Surgery), M Ch (Urology), FRCS(C), FASTS
Consultant Urologist and Transplant Surgeon
Dr. Mohan Keshavamurthy is an eminent urologist and transplant surgeon with over 16 years of extensive surgical experience. He is a pioneer in laser Urology as well as an expert in complex reconstruction of the urinary tract and major uro-oncological procedures in both adult and paediatric age groups.
He has performed over 250 Laser enabled Transurethral prostate Vaporization procedures (LASER TURP), 1500 laser fragmentation of kidney(RIRS) and ureteric stones(URS), 1600 kidney transplants, and 75 pancreas transplant. He is an acknowledged expert in implantation of flexible and inflatable penile prosthesis & penile lengthening procedures.
Professional qualification
A meritorious and award-winning student, Dr. Mohan, after completing his MS in general surgery finished his M Ch urology from the prestigious KEM Hospital, Mumbai. He then completed his fellowship in urogynaec-oncology from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. Besides these, he has done advanced training leading to a Fellowship in solid organ transplantation from QE II HSC, Halifax, Canada and Fellowship of American Society of Transplantation thereafter.
Dr. Mohan has contributed more than 100 articles in various peer reviewed journals like Transplantation Proceedings, The Canadian Journal of Urology, British Journal of Urology International to name a few. Apart from being the Chief Investigator-Middle East for Neoral MOST study, he contributed significantly to the medical fraternity by presenting on various topics at different international conferences like Congress of the International Pediatric Transplant Association, American Transplant Congress, Transplant Odyssey, etc.
Tags: Dr Mohna Keshavmurthy, laser TURP, nephrology, prostate enlargment, Urologist
HEALTHCARE A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR UGANDA
Uganda has one of the worst healthcare records in the world, but the development of local facilities and training of volunteers will bring life-saving services to thousands of people in Katine
Annie Kelly
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 April 2009 00.01 BST
Article history
Elias Oluja, lab technician from Tiriri health centre tests patients for HIV during his weekly visit to the lab at the Ojom health centre, Katine
Elias Oluja, lab technician from Tiriri health centre during his weekly visit to Ojom lab in Katine. Photograph: Dan Chung
Talk to locals in Katine, north-east Uganda, about what worries them most in life and the answer will probably be their health and the health of their family.
Look at the statistics and it's easy to see why. Despite record investment over the past five years, Uganda's healthcare performance is still ranked as one of the worst in the world by the World Health Organisation. The country is ranked 186th out of 191 nations.
A Ugandan's health and life expectancy is among the lowest across the globe. In Uganda, one in every 200 births ends the mother's life, around 1 million people are living with HIV and although malaria accounts for 14% of all deaths, less than 10% of children under five are sleeping under insecticide-treated nets.
The African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref), which with Farm-Africa is working to improve lives of Katine villagers, funded by donations from Guardian readers and Barclays, says health has proved one of the most complex and challenging components of its work in the sub-county so far.
During the 18 months since the Katine Community Partnership Project began, serious external challenges have emerged with increasingly poor and erratic drug distribution, lack of trained medical staff and equipment and the looming threat of a global recession disrupting progress.
Now, at the halfway point of our three-year project, it is clear that hitting the ambitious health targets set in 2007 will not be easy.
However, there have been some notable achievements. The new laboratory at the Ojom health centre was joyfully welcomed by the local community and now means that more than 15,000 people can easily access simple but potentially life-saving diagnostic tests for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
In a country where 51% of people don't have any contact with public healthcare facilities, nursing staff at Ojom report that the lab has also increased the number of people accessing healthcare services at the clinic. "They come for a blood test and then they come and see us, whereas before they wouldn't have made the trip," says Richard Okello, a nurse working at Ojom.
According to Amref, one of the biggest discoveries of the project so far is that helping to build functioning community structures can lead to a tangible improvement in healthcare and access to health services at a local level.
So far more than 300 local people have been trained as volunteer community healthcare workers since the project began. There is now a network of village health teams (VHTs), traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and community vaccinators supporting healthcare programmes in Katine and acting as bridges between local communities and frontline health services.
Across Katine, VHT members are going out to remote households and making referrals to public health facilities, and have distributed thousands of treated nets to mothers and children under five. TBAs trained by Amref to recognise danger signs in birth are now referring more mothers to clinics than ever before.
Before the project began, overworked healthcare staff were unable to run outreach immunisation programmes. Now, thanks to the work of community vaccinators, 90% of children in Katine are immunised against killer diseases such as measles and polio.
Local people are now starting to demand the right to decent health services. Negotiations over the building of a new clinic at Merok are underway with the district government after community leaders called for better access to healthcare services for thousands of people living in this remote part of the sub-county.
At the same time the fragility and gaps in existing healthcare provision in the sub-county have been starkly exposed.
One Amref staff member in Katine described trying to tackle poor healthcare services as "trying to put out a bushfire". As soon as you've put out one blaze, another one has started behind your back.
A well-documented problem has been the chronic shortage of trained professional staff in Katine's healthcare facilities.
This is a story played out across the country. Only 38% of healthcare posts are filled in Uganda. Those healthcare staff who are working, have little incentive to work in poor rural areas like Katine. Some 70% of Ugandan doctors and 40% of nurses and midwives are based in urban areas, serving only 12% of the Ugandan population.
In Katine, the fact that there is still no doctor at Tiriri, the sub-country's largest healthcare facility, has been a serious blow to the central goal of improving healthcare services to those most in need. Amref says it has been lobbying the district government to get this post filled, but with no luck.
The lack of drugs at Tiriri and Ojom is a glaring testament to the failure of the national drug distribution programme, something not factored in to health goals at the beginning of the project. Again, Amref says it is lobbying for this to be improved, but has no mandate to distribute drugs itself.
One major concern is the effect this is having on the morale of the community healthcare workers so integral to Amref's health strategy for the project.
Susan Wandera, Amref's deputy director in Uganda, says the lack of vaccines and empty drug stock rooms that greet locals who have been encouraged by VHTs to walk hours to a clinic, could haemorrhage support and undo many of the relationships nurtured throughout the first phase of the project.
"External challenges, like lack of drugs and lack of healthcare staff, mean we are putting demands on our VHTs and community vaccinators, who are already doing a very difficult and demanding job on a voluntary basis," she says. "We cannot risk losing their support as they are absolutely essential to our work in Katine."
Hovering above all this is the increasingly ferocious global financial meltdown, which could threaten to derail Uganda's national health budgets – half of which are now funded by the international community – and undermine all progress made in healthcare provision over the past decade. There is no doubt that the ripple effects of any cuts in development or aid budgets to Uganda's healthcare system will be felt in Katine.
In the 18 months left to run on the Katine project, Amref says it is going to build on the work it has already started.
Refresher training courses will be provided to VHT members, community vaccinators and TBAs, as well as professional healthcare staff.
An additional 30,000 anti-malaria bed nets will be distributed across the sub-county. The next year and a half will also see an increased focus on family planning, with VHT members distributing contraceptive pills and running outreach education and awareness programmes around sexual health and family planning.
On top of this the clinic at Tiriri will undergo renovations and be upgraded so operations will be able to be performed on-site, rather than patients being transferred to Soroti district hospital, if it can find the staff to carry them out.
The immunisation programme will remain a particular focus for Amref as the project draws to a close. New refrigerators and chill-boxes are being supplied to Ojom clinic to help community immunisation workers extend their reach into some of Katine's most remote and vulnerable communities.
It hopes to be able to transfer a fully functioning community immunisation framework over to the district government, and is aiming for 90% of children under five to be immunised against eight killer diseases by the time the project finishes its three-year cycle.
UGANDA NEEDS A JENNIFER MUSISI CALIBRE OF WOMAN FOR PRESIDENT COME 2016
UGANDA NEEDS A JENNIFER MUSISI CALIBRE OF WOMAN FOR PRESIDENT
Ugandans who are patriotic and believe in democracy agree that Museveni must retire by 2016 latest. If that is so, the country has the challenge in who can be supported for the highest office in the land. I love Uganda for among other things being a leader in many strategies a part from the Presidency where we have proven a bad example.
Men have messed up the country for 46 years; since 1966. Time is ripe to flood a woman with votes, a woman who can turn around things, a woman who will not give patronage of the Museveni type chance, so that the few exploit the resources of the country. A woman who will not give chance the corrupt to go away with the loot, the so – called “Bagagga bato” (young millionaires) who are conduit of the looted national resources. Such a one with the abilities and braveness of Jennifer Musisi can see Uganda out of the mess.
Time is now to look for that saviour woman. Meanwhile, President Museveni can start farewell parties throughout the country. We surely believe that he sees the signs showing RED for him come 2016.
Farewell Mr. Museveni. Wish you a fruitful retirement come 2016.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
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