RATIONALE FOR THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY

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Overview

36.A national land policy framework is essential for the sustainable management of land resources, since it is known that the majority of Ugandans are dependent on land for employment and survival. It is crucial for an integrated and effective, system responding to a wide variety of intra-sectoral variables between the land sector and other productive sectors in the economy, to be in place.

37.Without a comprehensive policy, it is a challenge to confront the fact that land is a factor of production influenced by and interacting with macro-level policy processes and strategies, whose strategic management is important for significant and sustainable economic growth and social transformation. The rationale for a national land policy in Uganda, therefore, rests on the reasons below

8.Firstly, isolated policies, not fully integrated in one comprehensive document and policy gaps on special issues of importance to the land sector, do exist in Uganda. Land issues feature in documents on agricultural policy, in environmental policy, in natural resources management policy and legislation, in policy for private sector development and industrialization, housing, and transport infrastructure. Having various sources of policy without having a consolidated policy document has led to a situation in which different aspects of land policy conflicting as regards decisions and laws.

39.In addition, the regulatory framework remains ambiguous on many sector-level issues and the modalities it prescribes for solutions to problems identified in each sub-sector quite often overlap, leading to grave administrative conflicts and bureaucratic competition for responsibility and resources on the ground. There is, therefore, a need to review all policies relating to land and to harmonize them, within the framework of a common horizontal denominator because of their sub-sectoral foci, they have been enacted in response to isolated policy sectoral demands.

Historical Complexities

40.Secondly, land issues in their historical complexity do not appear to have been satisfactorily resolved despite numerous pronouncements in the land sector. The Constitution of Uganda 1995, among other things, brought in fundamental reforms in the ownership, tenure and management of land. It provides important basic policy principles, which were expanded upon in the Land Act 1998.

41.However, substantial ambiguity within the Constitution and legislation as to the content and viability of property rights under various tenure categories is still apparent, despite the fact that the Land Act 1998, was expected to resolve them. It would also appear as if the Land Act was enacted without exhausting all the critical issues; thus, the Land Act itself has become a major problem which policy must seek to resolve.

Land Degradation

42.Thirdly, land degradation continues to be a serious phenomenon within Uganda mostly in the highlands and the cattle corridor. Although growth has been registered in some parts of the country, this has come at great cost to the quality of land resources. It is estimated, for example, that land deterioration accounts for over 80% of the annual costs of environmental damage, in Uganda, a state which the country can hardly afford. In addition, land reserved for conservation purposes continue to pose challenges as regards, bio-diversity protection and heritage preservation. Demands exerted by population growth and settlement expansion have placed wildlife resources, catchment areas, forests and wetlands at risk despite the existence of legislation on these issues.

Land is a Basic Developmental Resource

43.Fourthly, acknowledging the centrality of land in the overall social and economic development process in Uganda calls for the development of an integrated policy for the land sector and the identification of effective inter-linkages between the land and other productive sectors, hence the focus on regulating use and development of land. However, the current structure of the land tenure systems in Uganda, which concentrates on property rights per se, should not blur the necessity for a more fundamental objective that is to shape the nature of the land use systems, by which the diverse needs for human settlement, production and conservation can be harmonized. This cannot be done without a comprehensive land sector policy nor can it be suspended any longer.

Paradigm Shift from Mere Ownership to Development

44.Fifthly, there is a need to re-focus the discourse on land reform, from over-emphasis on property rights per se, to its essential resource value in development. This is critical, as land resources remain chronically under-utilized and inefficiently managed at present. The continued growth of the country will require a coherent and pragmatic approach to land use planning and management. This can only be attained by confronting a number of challenges.

45.These challenges relate to land both as property and as a resource that is fundamental to economic development in Uganda:

(i) As property, the challenge is to design and universalize a system of tenure that would instill confidence in individuals, communities, and institutions which own or desire to accumulate land as an asset. The direct implication of such an undertaking is the requirement to deal with multiple tenure regimes, encumbered with a complex web of interlocking and overlapping rights on land and tenure relations drawing legitimacy from both indigenous and statutory law.

(ii)As a development resource, agricultural land in Uganda has not always been optimally and sustainably used. The primary reason is that indigenous agriculture was always and still is neglected by the State, a fact which continues to contribute to the under-development of that sector. Ever since the colonial period, agricultural “policy” has continued to be structured around peasant farming. This needs to change and be guided to free the land for extensive agricultural production, by creating alternatives in the services and industrial sectors.

International Obligations

46.Lastly, Uganda is a party to a large body of international and regional conventions, treaties and declarations dealing with human rights issues, human settlements, land and environmental governance, and shared aquatic, terrestrial and other trans-boundary resources which require adherence to specific principles in the management of the land sector. These instruments call for establishment of an international framework for land use and land management and environmental governance with countries party to them, which Uganda is expected to comply with.

47. Among issues identified by these instruments is the need to:

(i)avert poverty and extreme hunger;

(ii)manage global climate change through domestic policies and strategies;

(iii)guarantee national food security;

(iv)conserve biodiversity, and to ensure environmental sustainability;

(v)resolve resource conflicts arising from trans-boundary movements of population and animal species;

(vi)ensure gender equality and equity;

(vii)respect and protect human rights.