The Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development Judith Nabakooba has handed in 774 land titles to beneficiaries in Kamwenge district. These were processed under the systematic land adjudication and certification component (SLAAC).
While addressing the stakeholders from Rwamwanja playground, the lands Minister on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, explained that giving land titles to the communities hosting refugees was in essence for ensuring that they have security of tenure of their land.
She said that because of ignorance of Land Tenure Systems, the communities that directly border Refugee Settlements and those that host the refugees were ignorantly and increasingly losing out security on their own land, where many residents were selling their land outrightly to refugees, and subsequently getting poorer and poorer and even getting displaced on their own land.
“The laws of Uganda do not allow foreigners (that includes refugees) to hold land in the Customary tenure, Mailo tenure, and the Freehold tenure, so selling the land to them was against the land laws, but it was also making the communities lose their right on their land hence impoverishing them in the process,” Judith Nabakooba said.
She encouraged them to hold their land dear, and ensure they financially benefit from it through leasing it for those who wish, or getting support from financial institutions for them to improve their incomes and grow businesses.
Under the program has also been a subcomponent of physical planning, where sub counties hosting refugees have physical development plans (PDP).
The Minister said the PDP for Nkoma sub county was ready, awaiting approval by the National physical development board, “and once they are approved, the plans will guide development in the Subcounty towards a planned, orderly and sustainable development through optimal use of the limited land.”
She was flanked by the Minister of Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Frank Tumwebaze, who is also the area Member of Parliament (MP) of the District, and the woman MP Sylvia Bahereire, as the Minister commenced the commissioning of projects in Kamwenge district.
The commissioned projects include the market sheds, a taxi park, Nkoma resource centre and playground and others all amounting to 24 billion shillings funded by the World Bank.
Kamwenge is one of the districts that hosts a large number of refugees and according to the program manual, the support to the 11 refugee hosting districts was intended to enhance security of tenure, physical planning and small scale infrastructure, which is for strengthening interaction between the Refugees and host communities and making the infrastructure especially making roads motorable through out the year.
In his report to the Minister, the LC3 chair of Nkoma Katalyebwa Subcounty, Ivan Kuniihira said they had no complaints and no shoddy work reported through out the work projects.
The Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development – Additional Funding (USMID-AF) program has supported the construction of 3 resource centers, 2 markets, a taxi park, roads, and a stadium among others.
This program is implemented by the Ministry of Lands. Kunihira however listed some of the other priority projects that had gone unconstructed because of budget shortfalls and asked for consideration on the future project that is intended to commence in 2025.
He listed 4 km of Kinyonza -Damasco road, 3kms of Nyamuchwa-Mutwe road , Nkoma- Kasasa cost sealing road, Nkoma- Butimba 3kms, Nkoma Kyamwera, Baguta Mahani rd, Kayalyebwa Kagasa road, Bulegyeya Mukihihi and Bulegyeya Bututumira road of 7km.
At the commissioning, the district LCV chairman Joseph Kalungi said the projects, great and important were creating an imbalance in the district as they were all in one constituency even as Kamwenge has 3 different constituencies.
“Our appeal is that the next phase of the program should consider the other two constituencies,” Kalungi said.
He also appealed to the Minister to support the district in acquiring their loyalties from the Dura quarry which he said had been stopped for a long time with reasons that the quarry was situated in another district of Kitagwenda yet Kamwenge is equally entitled to 5 percent of the loyalties
He also said the projects under USMID have in essence started creating social cohesion between the refugees and local communities.
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Kalungi stated that people already socialize blend and there is no gap between the two communities. This was a testament to the day’s occasion where a football match had taken place between the refugees and the local communities.
Last week on April 26, Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba handed over 320 land titles out of 954 to beneficiaries in Mubende District.
Background
On April 17, 2024, the lands Minister launched the National Physical Development Plan, a 20 year guide that will inform the planning for the country’s land resource. Uganda joins the few African countries with such a guide.
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