Contemporary Issues

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Gender and Development

15.Uganda is hailed for having some of the best policy, constitutional and legal frameworks relating to gender, and particularly to women’s land rights. Despite having ratified several international human rights instruments on gender equality and protection of women’s land rights, the implementation and enforcement mechanisms are still lacking. Although traditions, customs and practices which discriminate women in matters of access, use and ownership of land have been outlawed by both the Constitution and the Land Act, the practice does not acknowledge these changes. Culture and custom, for example, continue to support inheritance of land rights to men and women’s rights continue to be tenuous, as they are usually only enjoyed at the mercy of their male relatives.

16.Women activists have been lobbying unsuccessfully since the debate on the Land Bill in 1998 for a clause in the land law for spousal co-ownership of land. The fate of this clause is not certain since the Domestic Relations Bill 2007 supposed to incorporate it has since bounced back to the Executive, as some sections of the Bill became very controversial and contentious when it was presented to Parliament. Furthermore, the marriage law and succession law are still discriminatory against women. Efforts by civil society organization in a test-case litigation, debarred sections of the laws, creating a legal lacuna; thus, urgent reforms are needed.

Land Disputes and Conflicts

17.Land disputes and conflicts have become part of the definition of contemporary Uganda. Trans-state boundary disputes are on the rise; there are now several boundary disputes or conflicts between districts; there are several hot spots of ethnic land conflicts; conflicts between pastoralists and agriculturalists are on the rise in some districts. Land disputes or conflicts and evictions on registered land between the registered land owners and the occupants are also on the rise.

18.In the recent past, there has been a wave of encroachment on protected areas mainly on forest reserves, wetlands and national parks. Efforts of government agencies to protect and conserve these vital ecosystems have often resulted in conflicts with the encroachers, with some of the conflicts turning violent and fatal.

19.Dispute or conflict management systems, structures and mechanisms are now overwhelmed. The prime challenge lies in tackling the root or structural causes of the land disputes and conflicts, many of which revolve around historical injustices. The current explosion is to a large extent a manifestation of frictions arising from unjust actions in the past which created uncertainty and insecurity in land rights. The other challenge is to devise a conflict management framework and comprehensive land dispute resolution mechanisms which are legitimate, accessible and cost-effective.

20.The rise in disputes and conflicts also needs to be understood within the increasing population hence pressure on land, projected to be 30 million by 2008, growing at a rate 3.4% per annum and estimated to be 32.4 million for 2009,projected to shoot up to 39.3 million in the year 2015 and 54.9 million in 2025. With such enormous population increases, the old rules are no longer sufficient to maintain cordial relations between users and owners of land, the conflicts arise naturally due to competing uses to which land is put.

21.The land policy, therefore, has to provide ways of relieving the pressure off the land, because six times as many people are trying to survive on the land and natural resources than there were 60 years ago. Alternatives lie in developing a vibrant services sector andindustrial sector to offer alternatives to rural agricultural land use. For the urban areas, the alternative lies with an urbanization policy to provide the rationale for urban land use. The ultimate solution lies in transforming the land sector to drive other productive sectors in the economy.

Oil in the Albertine Graben

22.The recent discovery of oil and petroleum deposits in the Albertine Graben has generated excitement in Uganda regarding the promise the resource may yield and the probable economic windfall in the energy sub-sector, its contribution to national economy and social well-being. Article 244 of the Constitution vests all minerals and petroleum in the Government on behalf of the Republic of Uganda. Citizens of Uganda feel strongly that these vital resources should instead be vested in the State in trust for the common good of all citizens. This calls for the amendment of the Constitution.

23.As anticipated, the rush to secure land in these oil- rich areas is threatening communal lands which are neither demarcated/surveyed nor titled. The policy should ensure that the land rights of the indigenous communities are secured and protected against land grabbing which has already been reported in these areas. Owners of land in the oil areas need to formalize their land rights in order to benefit from sharing of royalties as provided for under Article 244 of the Constitution.

24.In the event of oil companies and/or Government acquiring the land for production or processing of petroleum, the owners of land need to have ascertainable interests in land to benefit from the market value of the land. Likewise, it will be essential for oil companies and/or government to acquire land for the processing of petroleum (processing facilities and refineries) and transportation (oil and gas processing facilities and refineries). All these tenure, compensation, displacement and resettlement issues have to be fixed within the land policy framework.Land Rights and Pastoral Communities

25.Land rights of pastoral communities and ethnic minorities have registered exploitation for a long time. Many pastoral communities and ethnic minorities have lost their land rights to conservation projects, mainly national parks and other government projects, for example government ranches. This has led to depletion of their resources or landlessness. Privatization of communal grazing lands and other pastoral resources has forced some pastoral communities and ethnic minorities to invade other people’s land or to encroach on protected areas, in their neighborhood.