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Uganda: Government Cancels Nakivale Land Titles
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The Monitor (Kampala)
22 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Otushabire Tibyangye
Isingiro
The government has cancelled land titles it claims were fraudulently acquired by nationals and refugee settlers in Nakivale Refugee Settlement camp, Daily Monitor has learnt.
In a letter dated July 8 and written by the Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, to the district chairman, he says the decision was binding and it was his duty to sensitize the people concerned to stop trespassing on government land.
Twenty people so far have been affected including the chairman LC111 of Ngarama Sub- county, Mr Frank Milenge, who sold part of the land to Isingiro District local government. The district is currently building it headquarters on the said land.
However, the cancellation is deemed illegal by the land title owners who claim they have not been given a fair hearing by the government.
The cancellation comes against a backdrop of a string of cases before the court contesting the government ownership of the land .
In 2005, before the survey, Mr Milenge and seven others took the government to court over the matter but the government reportedly flouted the law, went ahead and surveyed the land using the police and UPDF.
"We resisted the survey because we felt the case before court should have been disposed off first before surveying," one of the aggrieved parties told Daily Monitor.The contention of the boundaries of Nakivale dates back to 1962 at the time of the creation of the camp.
The camp is located in the sub counties of Kashumba, Rugaaga and Ngarama and covers 84 sq miles the government claims was gazetted in 1962.
Records show that the government used aerial survey to map out the said land following ridges and prominent hills to form the boundary and since then no other survey had ever taken place until 2005.
The records show that the first land title was got as far back as 1968 by Mr Milenge on Freehold Volume 300.
Since independence, six land boards have been responsible for the allocation of the land in Nakivale including Ankole Land Board 1962-67, Uganda Land Commission 1967-71 and Uganda Land Commission under Idi Amin 1971-79 among others.
When contacted for comment over the letter, the LC5 chairman, Mr Ignatius Byaruhanga was very disappointed with the minister's communication."How can the whole minister act the way he has done? " Mr Byaruhanga asked. "He has failed to honour the court proceedings and gone ahead with an illegal act."
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He said what Prof Kabwegyere has done will cost the government huge sums of money once the encroachers win the case. Mr Byaruhanga says he is not ready to carry out directives which he sees as detrimental to the district considering the number of people living on the affected land.
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