The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has identified 119 certificates of title allegedly issued fraudulently or erroneously in gazetted protected areas in Masaka and Mpigi districts. Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba says 53 of the disputed titles are in the Greater Masaka sub-region, while 66 are in areas of Greater Mpigi.
She says preliminary investigations have established that the titles were issued within forest reserves and protected wetlands, raising concerns over collusion within the land administration system.
Nabakooba attributes the irregular allocations to alleged collusion among area land committees, district land boards and technical staff at the Ministry’s Lands Zonal Offices.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ engagement for the South Central region in Masaka, Nabakooba said she had instructed police to retrieve files relating to the disputed allocations for review and prosecution of those found culpable.
She said investigations had also established that some beneficiaries of the irregular allocations are impostors who claim connections to powerful authorities and use the influence to intimidate local leaders and officials who attempt to block their activities.
Nabakooba has also directed district leaders to curb the suppression and displacement of sitting tenants from public estates by wealthy individuals who allegedly exploit communities’ limited knowledge of land laws.
She said the ministry’s ongoing development of a government land inventory would also be used to scrutinise applications for freehold certificates of title and leases on public land.
The inventory is intended to strengthen the management of public estates and close loopholes that facilitate irregular land allocations. Nabakooba urged political leaders to closely monitor the operations of area land committees and district land boards and report suspected irregularities.
However, Alex Kasibante, the Kalangala District Senior Land Officer, says the ministry must also address structural weaknesses affecting land administration at the local government level.
Kasibante says many district land offices lack adequate equipment, making them vulnerable to land speculators and impersonators who manipulate land processes for personal gain at the expense of communities. The concerns come amid a wider investigation into alleged fraud within the lands administration.
Last week, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit arrested Colbert Zziwa Tamale, a Senior Lands Officer at the Masaka Regional Zonal Lands Office, over allegations of conspiring with several district land management officers across the Greater Masaka sub-region to fraudulently issue fictitious certificates of ownership for various parcels of land.
Doctor Emmanuel Mugunga, the Assistant Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, says investigations will be expanded to cover similar irregularities in other areas. He says the ministry is determined to restore sanity in the Lands Zonal Offices and strengthen controls over the issuance and management of land titles-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
