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Matek
Just out of curiosity do you expect an answer to
that question?
Em
The Mulindwas communication
group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:13
PM
Subject: [Ugandacom] Where Are the
9,000sq. Miles of Land That Buganda Wants?
But where exactly are the 9000sq. miles? Does it include
the land you live on? "All land in Buganda was surveyed. Every piece of land
for which a title (land title) was not issued was part of crown land and
therefore is part of the 9000sq.miles we want. IF YOU ARE ON LAND THAT
doesn't have a title, then you are on this land," Mayiga says. (NO
KIDDING!!!)
THIS HAS A POLITICAL IMPLICATION: (MK)"The Buganda
kingdom is also uncomfortable with The Land Act, 1998 which provides for
"bonafide occupants" and "lawful occupants" of land, thus giving former
squatters security of occupancy. While the Constitution and the Land Act vests
land ownership in private citizens, the Buganda Kingdom owns over 52% of
non-public land."
Where Are the 9,000sq. Miles of Land That Buganda
Wants?
![]()
New
Vision (Kampala)
OPINION
February 5, 2003
Posted to the web
February 5, 2003
Gerald Businge
Kampala
If you are on land
that doesn't have a title, then you are on this land - Peter Mayiga, Buganda's
spokesman
LAST week, Buganda kingdom submitted its five proposals to
the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). The third was that the ownership
and management of "the 9,000 sq. miles," should revert to the Kingdom of
Buganda.
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Under the 1900 Buganda agreement (Article 15) 9,000
square miles of land were entrusted to the colonial (crown) government for
protection and development. This land was returned to the Buganda Kingdom at
Independence in the 1962 constitution, but was declared public land in the
1967 constitution by then Prime Minister Milton Obote.
Charles Peter
Mayiga, Buganda kingdom's spokesperson and minister for youth and information
says the 9,000 sq. miles which the Buganda kingdom wants are spread across
Buganda: "This land was stolen by Obote in 1966 and he nationalised it. We are
saying return the land to the rightful owner who will then dispense it
accordingly," Mayiga says.
The 9,000sq. miles were demarcated as "waste
and uncultivated land to be vested in her majesty's government" from the
estimated 19,600 square miles of Buganda. It was the remainder after
specifying land given to chiefs, royals and administrative units.
But
where exactly are the 9000sq. miles? Does it include the land you live on?
"All land in Buganda was surveyed. Every piece of land for which a title (land
title) was not issued was part of crown land and therefore is part of the
9000sq.miles we want. If you are on land that doesn't have a title, then you
are on this land," Mayiga says.
In 1967 constitution, this land
reverted to the Uganda Land Commission, and a small part to KCC and later
district land boards (under the Land Act, 1998).
In their proposals to
the CRC, the Buganda kingdom argues that when the Land Act automatically
creates tenancies and takes away the land owner's right to negotiate fair
tenancy terms; when it restricts the land owner's right to use the land; when
it restricts the rights of a title holder to transfer, pledge or mortgage
land, it is taking away the essence of ownership, and is interfering with the
property rights of the land owners.
"This unconstitutional 1998 Land
Act deprived land owners who had invested in land of their property without
complying with the provisions of Article 26(2) of the 1995
Constitution."
Article 26(2) says;
"No person shall be
compulsorily deprived of property or any interest or right over property of
any description except where the following conditions are satisfied:
a.
the taking of possession or acquisition is necessary for public use or in the
interest of defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public
health: and
b. the compulsory taking of possession or acquisition of
property is made under a law which makes provision for-
i. prompt
payment of fair and adequate compensation, prior to the taking of possession
or acquisition of the property; and
ii. a right of access to a court of
law by any person who has an interest or right of property."
"This
issue is very important to the people of Buganda, because it directly affects
the land returned to the Kabaka under the "Ebyaffe" statute in 1993. Although
on paper, the Kabaka holds 350 square miles of land which were returned to
him, in actual fact, he cannot use this land, nor does he benefit from it,"
says the document.
The document objects to the extremely unfair rent of
sh1,000 irrespective of the size or location or economic activity on the land.
It states that throughout history, the Busuulu and Envujjo laws found an
appropriate compromise between landowners and tenants. These laws gave
sufficient protection to tenants and squatters, while at the same time giving
protection to the landlord. The current Land Act upset these relationships and
is not workable.
The document states: "It is possible to achieve the
public interest objectives of the Land Act in other manners that do not
violate fundamental freedoms and property rights guaranteed under the
Constitution. The Constitution needs to be revisited on the questions of
'bonafide' and 'lawful occupants' having regard to the rights of landholders.
If the Constitution clarifies the issue, then the Land Act can be adjusted
accordingly. The issue of the Land Act is raised here because it emanates from
the above constitutional provisions."
Perhaps nowhere in Uganda is the
land question as sensitive as in Buganda. Mailo land was introduced by the
1900 Buganda agreement to the disenchantment of many people. Overnight, by
just a stroke of a pen, some individuals were granted big chunks of land
(Mailo), making the original owners become squatters on their own
land.
The Buganda kingdom argues that just like expropriated properties
of Asians and traditional leaders have been returned and it is the well
established Government policy that such properties should be returned, this
land should be returned to the Kingdom.
But the Buganda Kingdom
described in Article 9 of the 1900 agreement consists administrative counties
of Kyaggwe, Bugerere, Bulemezi, Buruli, Bugangaizi, Buyaga, Buwekula, Singo,
Busujju, Gomba (Butuzi), Butambala (Bweya), Kyadondo, Busiro, Mawokota,
Buvuma, Sese, Buddu, Koko, Mawogola and Kabula. Of the six counties that had
just been annexed from conquered Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom, Buyaga and Bugangaizi
voted to return to Bunyoro in the 1964 referendum.
Augustus Nuwagaba, a
Senior Lecturer in Makerere University's Faculty of Social Sciences and a land
policy specialist says its not easy to grant that request of granting Buganda
kingdom the 9000sq. miles without amending the constitution.
"When that
land was named and exchanged even in the 1960s, there were only two land
tenure systems, freehold and Mailo, plus this 9,000 sq. miles vested in the
government. But the 1995 Constitution and the Land Act, 1998 provide for four
tenure systems, including customary and leasehold. This means people on this
land have defined rights, and giving the land to another party requires an
amendment," Nuwagaba says.
Mayiga says the sitting tenants have nothing
to fear: "Returning it to Buganda does not mean affecting any existing or
future rights of lawful owners or occupants, any more than the return of
Kabaka's land in 1993 affected any legitimate owners or occupants," the
kingdom said in the memorandum of Baganda submitted to the CRC.
But
then why is the kingdom demanding for that land now? "This land in question
belongs to Buganda, and we are saying before you give it to anybody, first
give it back to the original owner, who I'm sure will give it to the districts
where it is. This is a constitutional matter and one of morals, a question of
proprietorship," Mayiga argues.
But analysts say Buganda's fourth
proposals to amend the land law does not rhyme with their claim of maintaining
the rights of bonafide occupants after the 9000sq. miles are given to them,
since they are demanding for the reduction of rights given to
tenants.
Apart from the fear of distablising the respective district
land boards who manage and allocate this land, Nuwagaba argues that it is
impossible since some of the land is outside Buganda Kingdom as recognised in
the 1995 constitution.
"Buganda at the time of signing the 1900
agreement included the former lost counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi which
today make up Kibaale district. So if some of this land is outside Buganda,
how do you return it to the kingdom? This land was just taken away from local
people and didn't belong to the Kabaka in the first place," he
says.
The Mengo government however, insists that all the 9,000sq. miles
are in Buganda, save for Kampala, which is not recognised under
Buganda.
"The land in the lost counties was given to individuals and
isn't part of the 9,000sq. miles," Mayiga explains.
"Actually, over
3,000sq. miles of this land they are claiming are in Bunyoro. Go and look at
the 1900 agreement. So they should be asking for 6000sq. miles," says Henry
Ford Mirima, Bunyoro kingdom's Press Officer. The S'abaruli, head of the
Baruli tribe in Nakasongola district claims the Buganda kingdom took their
land.
Some people have expressed fear and skepticism at this move by
Buganda kingdom, saying it may be a ploy to throw out non-Baganda: "They have
been demanding for the 9,000sq. miles, but they never tell us where that land
is and how it affects people living on that land, especially us non-Baganda,"
says Ben Tushabe of Kasubi.
Philip Oloya Oruni in his book What is good
for Uganda which analyses the provisions and implications of the 1900 Buganda
agreement, predicted that provisions on land which "materially violated and
robbed the basic sovereign heritage of the community-land, are a time bomb
waiting to explode."
The Buganda kingdom says such fears are misplaced
since no one has ever been evicted from the land given back to the Kingdom in
1993 on account of ethnic origins. "On the contrary, 40% of the leases granted
in Kampala area by the Buganda Land Board (which administers it on behalf of
the Kabaka) are to non-Baganda," reads the statement.
The Buganda
kingdom is also uncomfortable with The Land Act, 1998 which provides for
"bonafide occupants" and "lawful occupants" of land, thus giving former
squatters security of occupancy. While the Constitution and the Land Act vests
land ownership in private citizens, the Buganda Kingdom owns over 52% of
non-public land.
"The Land Act, 1998 needs to be repealed and its aims
and objectives should be revisited to ensure that it adheres to
well-established principles of Constitutional Law and does not violate
fundamental rights and freedoms. In enforcing the rights of bonafide and
lawful occupants as set out in the Constitution, it tramples on the
constitutional fundamental rights and freedoms of landowners," they say in the
statement. Ends
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