Government is set to transfer Mailo land titles to a total of 300 Bibanja owners in Nakaseke district as part of the interventions aimed at addressing the longstanding historical land injustices that resulted in overlapping land rights.
The Minister for Lands, Betty Amongi has revealed that President Yoweri Museveni will this Saturday officially hand over 300 Mailo land titles to Bibanja holders who have since acquired registrable interests.
The Bibanja holders occupy Block 260 Plot 383 measuring 41.175 hectares and Plot 385 measuring 201.6 hectares covering the villages of Kirema, Kibubu and Kitoto in Semuto subcounty, Nakaseke district.
Minister Amongi said the Bibanja holders “will no longer be called tenants by occupancy but Mailo land owners or registered proprietors”.
“This intervention is one of the key measures to address the historical land injustices that caused multiple land rights on the same piece of land, with a land owner with perpetual interest holding a land title, and a tenant with a kibanja, in possession of the land,” the Minister added in a statement released Thursday.
The issue of overlapping rights on a particular property have brought about illegal evictions and it is for this reason that government undertook to resolve this permanently, by enabling tenants acquire registrable interests.
Amongi says that this intervention is derived from the National Land Policy where government committed itself to resolve the historical land injustices that have often created multiple rights on the same piece of mailo land.
In 2002, government took a decision to implement the Land Fund in Kibaale district to address the historical injustices caused by the colonial government. Since then, government has released Shs 102.7 billion which has been used to acquire 80,090.68 hectares (200,227 acres) of land in parts of Buganda, Bunyoro, Ankole and Toro regions.
Government is also in the process of processing titles for tenants in Kayunga district, in the sub-counties of Kitimbwa and Kayonza. The Minister says these are pilot interventions in regions which have faced historical injustices in order to provide lasting solutions to evictions.
“It is through such actions that the lawful and bonafide occupants shall be able to acquire registrable interests in the land they possess as was pledged in the NRM Election Manifesto 2016 – 2021,” the Minister said.
She said that the 300 Mailo titles to be handed over in Nakaseke district form the first batch of land titles which will be handed over in Buganda region. A similar exercise was conducted in 2017 in Bunyoro region were over 350 land titles were handed over to former Bibanja holders in Kibaale.