Govt Losing Chunks of Untitled Land to Encroachers – Auditor General

The lack of titles for government owned land and weaknesses within the Ministry of Lands has deprived government of big chunks of land to encroachers, according to the recently released Auditor General’s report.

The report has raised concern that government has failed to secure titles for several public entities as well as protected areas like forests, swamps and wetlands, making it difficult to protect this land from encroachers.

Uganda Police (UPF) and National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) are named among the institutions that have lost much of their land to encroachers. The other victims are National Forestry Authority, Diary Development Authority, Uganda National Metrological Authority, Uganda Wildlife Research and Training Institute, and National Animal Genetic Resource Centre and Data Bank.

Findings by the Auditor General for the financial year 2016/17 indicate that Police land offered to Namasiga police post, Namaganga Police post, Kamigo Police post, Bunyala police post, Buwenda police and Mpumudde and Bugembe police Barracks have been encroached on by the local council.

“In Tororo, Police land has been encroached by NSSF while Bugembe Police land has been encroached by 55 illegal occupants, Natete Police land has been encroached by 65 illegal occupants,” the report states.

Furthermore, the reports discovered that in many cases, land meant for government has been illegally parceled out to individuals. This includes wetlands, forests and swamps that are by law protected. For this reason, Budongo range forest has suffered up to 100% encroachment.

A total of 174 land titles were irregularly issued to private individuals in the Central forest reserves (CFR) of Zirimiti in Mukono district and Kitubulu CFR in Wakiso district while swamps of Kabojja and Lubigi in Wakiso district and Chala in Moyo district have been encroached on too. The same applies to Lake Birinzi in Masaka district.

While government appropriated a sum of Shs 54.3 billion to the Ministry of Energy for the acquisition of land in Hoima district for the construction of the oil refinery, the report states that the land lacks a title due to a court encumbrance which could stall the construction of the refinery.

The report attributes these irregularities to the weaknesses in the Ministry of Lands and Uganda Lands Commission. The weaknesses which the Auditor General says require urgent redress include delays in processing land registration documents ranging from 13 to 134 days contrary to the prescribed period of 2 to 20 days and the low level of registration of land which is as low as 5% in rural areas.

“I also observed that the Ministry lacks a land value data bank which would provide indicative property values for the purpose of assessing various fees such as stamp duty. The Uganda Land Commission which is mandated to hold government Land in trust does not have an updated register of all the land it holds in trust for government,” the Auditor General, John Muwanguzi states.

The story is no different at the Local Government level. Out of the 156 Local Governments that were assessed, 46 representing 29% of them lacked land titles for the land where council properties are located while 11 of them had their land already encroached on.

The report recommends that Accounting Officers prioritize and allocate funds towards ensuring that land titles are secured, and for District Councils to fully constitute District Land Boards.

Findings by the report are synonymous with the revelations unearthed by the ongoing Justice Catherine Bamugemereire probe into land mismanagement which pins lands officers for colluding with high profile government individuals and business moguls to grab public land.