Kajobago Ka Rusoke
15 May 2008
opinion
Kampala — THE proposed Land Bill has caused lack of harmony between the Government and officials of the Buganda Kingdom. There are two categories of land in Uganda; the public and mailo land.
Under the public land ownership, the state is the custodian of land on behalf of its citizens. Mailo land on the other hand belongs to individuals who are viewed as socially-superior.
In the past, communities possessed larger chunks of land than individuals. A king was only a custodian of land on behalf of his subjects. But how did the culture of mile land arise?
Britain conquered all nationalities which she put under the name Uganda and claimed it as a British property. The aim of the conquest was to obtain raw materials for its industries in Europe and a market for its products. This meant that all land in Uganda belonged to Britain.
Everyone, including hereditary leaders like kings, became a British subject. The British used the kings to recruit their subjects for cheap labour in order to produce raw materials. Since kings were the custodians of land and yet Britain confisticated all the land in the crown colony, the kings were offered large chunks of land that came to be referred to a mailo land. This land was, therefore, a bribe to turn kings against their subjects in favour of Britain.
When the British left, the post-colonial government took over all that Britain controlled. Therefore, all land which was not referred to as mailo land but public land is directly under the control of the Government. The Government should make it clear to kingdoms that they are not political institutions representing governments in the country. The Constitution does not grant them this power.
The land that belonged to Britain was known as Crown land, meaning it belonged to the British Crown, falls directly under the ownership of the post-colonial government.
Such land cannot belong to any other institution without directives from the Government.
Local governments, which are extensions of the Central Government headed by resident district commissioners, represent the Government in all aspects and spheres in the districts, land inclusive.
LC5 chairpersons at the district level legislate on behalf of the local people, who elect their members in the districts and are directly answerable to the Government.
We do not have local autonomous states within territories which have the mandate to demand land from the Government.
Titles like Kabaka, Omukama and Kyabazinga are symbols of cultural and traditional leaders who do not hold any political power and who do not head any autonomous states within the country.
It is, therefore, an anomaly for any of them to claim ownership of any piece of land that belonged to Britain and which now falls directly under the Government. This should be made clear in categorical and unequivocal terms.
A cultural institution which claims ownership of public land as its former property is tantamount to an attempt to declare secession from Uganda.
In order to resolve the mile land problem, in case a family has spent more than 12 years on a plot of land which is claimed as property by another person, the family should not be evicted, but pay sh1,000 per year and continue living there.
There shouldn't be threats of bloodshed over the land problem.
Consideration in land allocation should be made for counties which had their land taken from them by Britain because they did not collaborate in conquering other counties. These are Mawogola and Kabula which belonged to Ankore and were given to Buganda. Similarly, Buyaga, Bugangaizi, Buruuli and Mubende of Bunyoro were given to Buganda. The word kyankwanzi in Runyoro refers to an an area of beads, traditionally belonging to the Bahima.
It would be unfair if out of negative emotion, one declares that if the Bahima continue occupying such an area, there would be bloodshed. Mbarara was previously occupied by people who belong to the nationality of those promising bloodshed.
Land should be a uniting factor on the basis or a search for peace, friendship and unity. Our leaders should sensitise the public on the concept of land as a fundamental object of labour and not a cause for tribalism and the hate campaign.
The writer is a senior lecturer at the National Leadership Institute, Kyankwanzi
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