Land question in Uganda: Mailo tenure policy contestations and responses

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OPINION

By Hon. Dr Sam Mayanja

Dr Sam Mayanja, the Minister of State for Lands, on Friday, August 8,2025, made a presentation titled: The Land Question in Uganda: Mailo Tenure Policy Contestations and Responses at Makerere University School of Business, Block B Level 2. Below is his presentation

BACKGROUND

Ladies and gentlemen, the mailo land tenure system was established in the 1900 agreement, which was the instrument used by the British colonial authorities to establish their colonial control over Uganda. The agreement set up the Kingdom of the Province of Buganda as the first Province of Uganda with an estimated land mass cover of an area approximately 19,600 square miles.

Half of this area was appropriated as crown land. The other half was divided and allotted in parcels measured in square miles to the Kabaka, his family, the three native Ministers (Regents), the county chiefs, one thousand minor chiefs, missionary societies and the Muhammedan chief. The peasants or bibanja holders, were left completely landless, at the mercy of the new mailo landlords.

The land allotted was neither surveyed nor did it fall within any known tenancy of the day. It was eight years later, in 1908, when the Possession of Land Law (1908) was put in place. This Law created two tenancies, the mailo, which in Section 2 of that Law defined it as privately-owned land which conferred upon the owner the right to sale, to give away as a gift or to will it as he so wished. On the other hand, Section 6 created “official mailo” to be held by a chief for all the time he would hold his chieftainship. Section 2 (b) clarified the Kabaka’s 350 square miles in the 1900 Agreement to be official mailo.

Ladies and gentlemen, the mailo tenure system created an outcry from the majority peasants occupants of the land who were the actual creators of wealth through cultivation. It was through their agitation, mainly centred around boycotting the growing of cash crops, that the colonial administration responded by putting in place the Busuulu and Envujo Law, which conferred security of occupancy to the bibanja holders who under the 1995 constitution, are known by the term legal or bona fide occupants.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 1928 Busulu and Envujo Law, was a compromise which recognised both the right of the mailo landlord ownership and that of the kibanja occupant on the same parcel of land.

The Busulu and Envujo Law gave the mailo landlord the right to evict the kibanja holder if he did not pay busulu for three consecutive years but the eviction would only be carried out after a Court order.

Mukwaya writing close to thirty years of passing of the 1928 Law stated in his book, “Land Tenure in Buganda Present Day Tendencies”, that “it is rare for courts to grant orders of eviction against tenants who fail to pay busulu or envujo. Any dues in arrears are legally considered civil debts, which are recoverable in the usual manner”. 

Although the intention of the 1928 Busulu and Envujo Law had been to give bibanja holders security of tenure, the law created conflicting, competing and overlapping interests, on the same piece of land between the tenants (kibanja holder) and mailo landlords.  

The Historical Injustices

Ladies and gentlemen, for a long time, the security of tenure for bibanja holders has been in jeopardy and mostly threatened by laws that recognise overlapping interests in Mailo Land.

Before the creation of Mailo by the 1900 Buganda Agreement, a Kibanja holder enjoyed security of tenure similar to that enjoyed by customary land owners across other parts of Uganda. However, the creation of Mailo tenure changed all this and by stroke of a pen, made bibanja holders squatters on the land they had called their own for generations.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mailo tenure is itself similar to freehold tenure as it gives the holder security of ownership in perpetuity. However, unlike freehold, mailo creates overlapping interests on the same parcel of land. Mailo land interests, as re-enacted under Article 237 (3) (b) of the 1995 constitution, are encumbered by persons holding bibanja rights recognised with constitutional security of occupancy under Article 237 (8) of the constitution.

Busulu and Envujo law

Ladies and gentlemen, the enactment of the Busulu and Envujo law of 1928 was a response to the crisis introduced by the over-exploitation of peasants/bibanja labour by the mailo landlords. The Busulu and Envujo Law therefore came in to confer security of tenure to bibanja holders. This created the unintended consequence of two conflicting interests on the same piece of land as indicated hereinabove.

Bataka uprising

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bataka uprisings of 1945 and 1949, whose grievances, among other things, stemmed from land issues, did not result in legal change in land ownership. The Buganda establishment at Mengo, which would have spearheaded any change for its Baganda bibanja subjects was composed entirely of mailo landlords.

These mailo Mengo oligarchy, wanted ‘no change’ in order to preserve their privileged status quo. Accordingly, Mengo took a stance against any change in mailo tenure and joined the colonial administration in crashing both the 1945 and 1949 uprisings.

The 1962 Constitution

Ladies and gentlemen, upon independence, crown land was renamed public land and was put under the control of the Uganda Land Commission, Federal and District Land Boards in accordance with Article 118 of the 1962 constitution and within the provisions of the 1962 Public Lands Ordinance.

As regards private mailo land, the 1962 independence constitution did not make any reform or change in the holding of mailo, and the 1928 Busulu and Envujo Law remained unamended.

Ladies and gentlemen, attempts were made by the Buganda Planning Commission in 1964 at reforming the mailo tenancy. The commission proposed to give bibanja holders semi-freehold titles and completely resolve the issue of the mailo landlords/kibanja land question in Buganda by ending the overlapping land rights. The commission proposed that:

“the existing kibanja tenants would be given a legal title to their plots, which could be bought and sold and pledged as security for loans. The owners of these kibanja tenures would only lose their land if they failed to make the annual payment; but the kibanja would not revert automatically to the mailo landowner, who would have to take the kibanja owner to Court and the land would be sold by public auction”.

However, this otherwise excellent proposal was vetoed by the mailo landlords who dominated the Lukiiko. For the Mengo Establishment, preservation of the status quo and maintaining their privileged position over land and the bibanja holders, and superiority in society, was paramount.

Accordingly, the position of both the mailo landlord and kibanja tenant on private mailo remained unchanged during the 1962 independence Constitution dispensation.

The 1967 Constitutional reforms

Ladies and gentlemen, the 1967 Constitution transferred all public land which under the 1962 constitution was under the administration of the District Land Boards and Federal/Kingdom Land Boards and vested public land in Uganda Land Commission pursuant to Article 108 (5) of the 1967 Constitution.

The private Mailo remained intact in private hands under Article 126 (1) of the 1967 Constitution. However, President Obote had ideas about reforming mailo tenure at a future date. As party leader A.M. Obote remarked “the land issue was coming nicely. The idea was to alter the mailo system to the leasehold system where land was leased to ….groups capable of making use of it for the national good”. This policy was implemented in the 1969 Public Land Act Section 25 which, extended to customary occupants (bibanja), the right to apply for a lease over the land they occupied. Section 25 read in full as follows:

“any person holding land by customary tenure may, at any time apply to the controlling authority to grant him a leasehold estate in the public land occupied by him at the time of such application; and the controlling authority shall in accordance with the provisions of this Act, make such a grant”.

However, this land reform extended only to bibanja holders on public land and did not cover bibanja holders on private mailo. This policy, therefore, had no effect on the institution of private mailo tenure, hence the institutional inertia in mailo land tenure.

The 1975 Land Reform Decree

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since independence, a law was passed, namely the 1975 Land Reform Decree, that altered property rights in Uganda. By stroke of a pen, all land in Uganda became public land managed by the Uganda Land Commission. Mailo land and freehold were converted to leaseholds of 99 years for the individual holders and 199 for institutions. Land was now to be leased to individuals for a specified period and with specific development conditions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 1975 Land Reform Decree, apart from abolishing mailo and freehold, it also abolished Busulu and Envujo Law. The decree declared bibanja holders tenants at sufferance who could be evicted at will.

Ladies and gentlemen, although the land reform decree was not implemented, it nevertheless remained the law applicable to land up to the arrival of the 1995 constitutional dispensation.

The NRM Progressive Land Reforms

Ladies and gentlemen, when the NRM took power in 1986, it embarked on Land Reforms to deal with the increasing social unrest in the rural areas, particularly in Buganda. The origin of the unrest was the mailo historical injustice. Landlords in Buganda feared that, what they believed to be a communist NRM regime, was soon going to expropriate their lands, although the position at law was that the mailo was now state owned land under the 1975 Land Reform Decree.

Ladies and gentlemen, the mailo landlords therefore decided to sell off their lands before the speculated expropriation could take place. Since selling of these lands involved evictions of tenants/bibanja holders, there was a lot of social unrest and tension. The NRM government therefore embarked on land reform measures which were culminated to effect a change in land rights in Uganda.

The land reform moved away from the 1975 Land Reform Decree position where all land in Uganda was public land to the current position, where all land belongs to the people of Uganda and vests in them under any of the four tenure systems recognized under article 237 (1) and (3) of the 1995 constitution, namely; Mailo, freehold, leasehold, and customary tenures.  Public land is now managed by both the Uganda Land Commission under Article 239 and District Land Boards under Article 241 of the 1995 constitution. Private mailo was reinstated under Article 237 (3) and reverted to private ownership.

Ladies and gentlemen, the NRM amendments to Land ownership coincided with the introduction of institution of Traditional or cultural leaders under Article 246 of the 1995 constitution. This was interpreted by the mailo landlords as a return of their rule. They started selling land at unprecedented speed, demanding rents (busulu), increased entry fees (kanzu) and also tempted tenants to sell their bibanja.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Mengo mailo landed gentry, on the other hand, were not satisfied with the restorations of Kingdoms as cultural institutions under Article 246 of the constitution. They therefore demanded that the kingdoms be given political power and that Buganda as a region be re-instated as a single administrative unit in opposition to Article 176 of the 1995 constitution which provided that Uganda shall be based on the District as the administrative unit.

They thus agitated for federal akin to what had obtained in Article 2 of the 1962 constitution where Uganda had two separate units of administration namely; federal and District. They further demanded that the Kabaka must have chiefs and land under his direct control, as opposed to the 1995 constitutional provision where public land is administered either under Uganda Land Commission pursuant to Article 238 and 239 of the 1995 constitution or District Land Boards under Article 240 and 241 of the 1995 constitution.

Ladies and gentlemen, it appears the Mengo agitation was too much for the Constituent Assembly to the extent that the 1995 Constitution evaded the task of totally resolving the landlord/tenant question and instead passed the back to Parliament under Article 237 (9) of the constitution, which provided that;

“within two years after the first sitting of Parliament elected under this constitution, Parliament shall enact a law: (a) regulating the relationship between the lawful or bona fide occupants of land referred to in clause (8) of this article and the registered owners of that land; (b) providing for the acquisition of registrable interest in the land by the occupant”.

Ladies and gentlemen, even when Parliament debated the Land Act after two years of the 1995 constitution coming into force, the Mengo Establishment, although restored as a cultural institution, vehemently opposed the land bill and mobilised large numbers of people to resist the Act. The attempt failed, but the Land Act 1998, as passed by Parliament, was watered down by compromises which failed to free bibanja holders from the injustices of the 1900 Agreement mailo land system.

Ladies and gentlemen, the legal or bona fide occupant, which is a constitutional language of a kibanja holder under Article 237 (8) is not a tenure under which land vests into citizens of Uganda pursuant to Article 237 (1) and (3) of the constitution. The constitution only extended protection under Article 237 (8), which provided that “upon the coming into force of this Constitution and until Parliament enacts an appropriate law under clause (9) of this Article, the lawful or bona fide occupants of Mailo land, freehold or leasehold land shall enjoy security of occupancy on the land.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the Constitution under article 237 (8) provided for security of occupancy for a Kibanja holder as an interim measure pending the enactment of the law under article 237 (9), which would accord a Kibanja holder a registrable interest giving him security of tenure in perpetuity.

Ladies and gentlemen, the difference between security of occupancy and security of tenure is that security of occupancy only grants a tenant the right to occupy land as long as he or she complies with certain conditions. On the other hand, security of tenure, grants full ownership of land to a person who can deal with the land at will and such tenure is a registrable interest protected under section 59 of the Registration of Titles Act Cap 230.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Odoki Constitutional Commission Report had recommended as follows;

1. In regulating and managing the utilisation of land, the following factors should be taken into consideration: (i) all people who are legally occupying Land should be guaranteed security of tenure and enabled to register their interests and obtain certificates of titles;
   
   
2. All land held under the Mailo and Leasehold tenure in the rural areas should, in the long run, be converted into freehold tenure;
   
   
3. Bibanja holders should be granted free-hold titles to the land occupied by them, but government should make arrangements for compensation to the Mailo owners. The amount of compensation payable to the Mailo owner should be determined by a Lands Tribunal.
   
   

Ladies and gentlemen, regrettably, the Land Act of 1998, which was passed by Parliament, concerned itself, among other things, to enhancing bibanja security of occupancy and not for them to obtain tenancy, which is their constitutional right under article 237 (1) and (3). This is indicated was possibly the result of compromises in reaction to the vehement opposition to the bill by various interests headed by the now regrouped Mengo Establishment.  

Ladies and gentlemen, In view of the scheme of things indicated in paragraph 2.35 above, neither the 1998 Act nor the amendments thereto of 2001, 2006 and 2010 provided for the registrable interest to a kibanja holder amounting to a tenancy as provided to citizens of Uganda under Article 237 (1) and (3), which would accord them security of tenure in perpetuity.

Ladies and gentlemen, with the escalation of bibanja evictions and insecurity caused to and being suffered by bibanja holders, it is time to correct this historical injustice and ensure that all Ugandans enjoy security of tenure as they did before the coming of colonialists and the signing of the 1900 Buganda Agreement.

Ladies and gentlemen, to stop the evictions of bibanja holders, His Excellency the President has over the last ten years exercising his powers under Articles 98 (1), 99 (1) and (3) of the constitution, put in place Directives to protect the rights of bibanja holders set out in Article 237 (8) of the constitution.

The first Directive was issued on 22^nd February 2013, and provided, among other things, as follows:- 

• A kibanja owner or bona fide occupant does not have to kwengula (buy himself out). Manipulating the peasants through intimidation to accept “compensation” when they prefer to keep their ownership of the bibanja is illegal;
  
  
• Telling bibanja holders “mwegule, if you do not, I will sell to another one” is empty talk;
  
  
• Peasants can, willingly, sell if they are persuaded and given good money on a willing buyer, willing seller basis;
  
  
• Anybody who buys occupied land (occupied by the legal bibanja owners or the bona fide ones) buys more or less air if the two groups are no persuaded to sell voluntarily;
  
  
• All evictions involving peasants halted;
  
  
• Anybody engaging in evictions to be prosecuted according to the law;
  
  
• Those who had been illegally evicted to be assisted by Government to go back to their bibanja.

Ladies and gentlemen, the second Directive was issued by His Excellency on 28^th February 2022 in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Rt. Hon Robina Nabbanja and provided that:

• No eviction should take place in a District without the consent and direct observation of the District Security Committee (DSC), chaired by the Resident District Commissioners/Resident City Commissioners (RDCs/RCCs) and direct consultation with the Minister of Lands;
  
  
• If this is not done and the illegal evictions go ahead, the members of the District Security Committee will all be held responsible and action taken against them;
  
  
• His Excellency requested His Lordship, the Chief Justice, to prevail upon the Justices and Magistrates who violate the constitution by illegally evicting people in collusion with land grabbers;
  
  
• His Excellency directed the Minister of Lands to inform the Attorney General about such abuses by judicial officers so that legal action can be taken against them.
  
  

Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the above measures, His Excellency the President has directed the Ministry of Finance for funds to be budgeted for the Land Fund set up under section 41 of the Land Act cap 227 (now Cap 236) to enable government buy land from landlords and give title deeds in freehold or mailo to bibanja holders on the portion they occupy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the above measures put in place by His Excellency are interim measures. We thank His Excellency for his wisdom and timely action, which has ensured the current stability and calm in the land sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to suggest the way forward as follows:

1. Convert all Mailo tenure into freehold tenure, and create one uniform tenure in Uganda in perpetuity. This is derived from Article 237 (3) where all the four tenancies are convertible under Article 237 (4) and (5) into freehold. The mailo itself being a freehold;
   
   
2. Continue the conversion of customary tenure into freehold tenure as stipulated under Article 237 (4) (a) and (b) of the constitution, but ensuring the observance of all the customs and norms which should be stated as conditions on the freehold title;
   
   
3. Maintain leasehold tenure for non-citizens, provided that only government can extend leaseholds. Citizens would not create leaseholds out of their freeholds;
   
   
4. Disentangle the multiple, overlapping, and conflicting interests and rights on Mailo tenure through converting the Mailo into freehold, buying off the freehold portion being occupied by bibanja holders and offer them to bibanja holders giving them freehold security of tenure;
   
   
5. Converting all leaseholds into freehold, including those provided for under Article 237 (5), to give Uganda one freehold tenure system.

 
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY

Hon. Dr Sam Mayanja

Minister of State for Lands

This 8^th day of August 2025 at Makerere University School of Business, Block B Level 2.