UGANDA, Oyam | Real Muloodi News | In response to the numerous occurrences of land disputes in the Lango Sub-region, the government has given 200 tenants in the Oyam District freehold land titles.
On Saturday, December 17, 2022, the beneficiaries of the Systematic Land Adjudication and Certification (SLAC) programme received the land titles from Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba was accompanied by Betty Amongi, a Member of Parliament from Oyam South and the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development.
The handover took place at Apworocero Primary School in the Minakulu Town Council.
The initiative marks the start of “a new generation of landlords powered by the government of Uganda,” Ms Nabakooba said.
“We are going to work hard to deliver the remaining titles. I am instructing the officers from my ministry to share the lists of the titles brought today with the local leaders so that they (leaders) can share the same with the locals,” she said.
She also disclosed that, with assistance from the World Bank and the Competitiveness Enterprise Development Project (CEDP), the government has made a concerted effort to implement a nationwide programme of systematic land titling.
Ms Nabakooba added that helping landowners get land titles is one of the government’s obligations made in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto.
According to Ms Nabakooba, this will lessen land conflicts and evictions and safeguard residents from the effects of a lack of land registration.
“Use your titles to do productive activities and not to get bank loans, or use it in bars as security,” said Ms Nabakooba.
Although the initiative is still new in the Lango Sub-region, Ms Hope Atuhire, the Oyam Resident District Commissioner, highlighted that many people have welcomed it.
“Majority of the beneficiaries have not paid the statutory fees but now that they have seen their friends getting their titles, they will pay,” she said.
The latest flashpoint for land strife is Lango. For instance, between January and May 2021, police recorded at least 92 murder incidents in the North Kyoga district (Lango), all of which were the consequence of property conflicts.
Land is the sole significant source of income for many people in Lango following the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency’s two-decade-long struggle in Northern Uganda.
The majority of households in the Lango Sub-region, which includes the nine districts of Lira, Oyam, Kole, Apac, Dokolo, Amolatar, Alebtong, and Kwania, see land as their only means of subsistence.
According to local authorities, land disputes occur when people, who are frequently in blood relations, vie for the usage of the same piece of land.
READ MORE LIKE THIS:
Lango Region Facing Land Conflicts, Loss of Lives and Investment Project Delays
Madi Leaders Reject Museveni Directives on Apaa Land Conflict
