Buganda land board has no power on crown land — Mayanja

The state minister for lands, Dr Sam Mayanja, has, in a new directive, said Buganda Land Board Limited (BLBL) has no power to administer Crown Land. 

In a meeting with residents of Kigugo Landing Site in Namukuma parish, Ssi sub-county in Buikwe district this week on Wednesday (April 16), Mayanja said bibanja holders that have been remitting busuulu to BLBL were doing so illegally. 

“I have handled this matter under a separate presentation: This is why Buganda Land Board Limited is landless. In short, Buganda Land Board Limited has no land to administer, because all the land they claim is public land, having either been under crown land administered under the Crown Land Ordinance 1903, Official Estate Ordinance 1919, Public Land Ordinance 1962, Public Lands Act 1969 and currently District Land Boards 1998 Land Act,” he said. 

The pronouncement by the minister excited sections of people in Kigugo, where he convened a meeting to educate them on land rights following the fear of pending evictions in the area. 

Several families that own bibanja on the three-square-mile land complained that they were living in fear of being evicted from the area by a group of people from Kampala, some claiming to be from Mengo, the seat of Buganda Kingdom. 

Many people the minister interacted with also told him that before his sensitisation tour, they believed that the land belonged to Buganda kingdom. 

They also told the minister that they have been paying busuulu to Mengo chiefs for decades. 

The mistaken belief that crown land belonged to Buganda, Mayanja said, has created confusion among the public, with some unsuspecting citizens remitting busuulu to the Buganda Land Board, a move he said was illegal and wrong. Suspending the remission of busuulu to the Buganda Land Board, the minister urged bibanja holders on former crown land to, instead apply for freehold land titles from the Government directly through the district land boards. 

“In this context, any citizen of Uganda on public land applies for a title to the land he or she occupies, and the area land committee confirms that occupancy and sends their findings to the district land board, which, as per the guidelines indicated above, extends a freehold title to the applicant. Buganda Land Board Limited has no land and is completely irrelevant,” Mayanja said.

Residents of Kigugo Landing Site in Namukuma parish, Ssi sub-county in Buikwe district celebrating after Mayanja directed them to regain their land from which they had been evicted. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

Arrest 

During the meeting, the minister ordered the arrest of 75-year-old David Kiwanuka, alias Zebidayo, after a number of residents, including local council officials, accused him of allegedly defrauding people of their bibanja and conniving with a group from Kampala that had been issuing documents threatening to evict residents. 

The assistant Resident District Commissioner, Buikwe district, Isaac Walugermbe, said he had already engaged Kiwanuka over his practice of claiming ownership of people’s bibanja, but he became stubborn and kept shifting goal posts. 

He said Kiwanuka had publicly confessed during a public meeting that some of the bibanja he had sold and made agreements were not his, but went ahead and connected with those who claimed to be lawyers from Kampala and wanted to sell them the community land, insisting that it was Kabaka’s land, even when he was aware that this was public land, formerly Crown Land. 

In his defence, Kiwanuka said the land in question was sold to him by his late father, Vincent Munyambo. He also insisted that the land belongs to the Kabaka of Buganda, who he claimed gave it to Munyambo before the latter sold it to him. 

However, Kiwanuka’s claims were refuted by LC1 chairperson Kaloli Kivumbi. 

“The late Munyambo was a Tanzanian, who settled here. He has never been his father, because Kiwanuka is a Muganda of the Mpindi clan,” Kivumbi said. 

The Kabaka’s chief in charge of Namukuma parish, John Namalere, told the minister that the men conniving with Kiwanuka had allegedly fraudulently claimed ownership of some land in the area. 

Namalere added that after mapping the land, they attempted to bribe him to sign some documents as a witness, a move he rejected. 

“But ever since I rejected their money, I have been living in fear for my life. They have threatened to abduct me for refusing to endorse their documents,” he said, adding that one of them recently brought him documents summoning him to court over the same matter. 

However, the Mayanja told residents: “No one has the power to evict them.” 

The minister added that Kiwanuka would be charged with disturbing the peace of the area, causing insecurity and trying to obtain land through wrong means, among other charges. 

Policemen apprehending Kiwanuka, alias Zebidayo, on orders the minister. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

He informed them that the 1995 Constitution, the Land Act and the presidential directives give priority and protection to bibanja holders. 

“This is public land and it is under the control of Buikwe district land board. So, it was unlawful to evict anybody from his or her kibanja claiming that it belongs to the Kabaka,” he said. 

Mayanja added that bibanja holders, who have never obtained leases or freehold titles on public land, are protected under Article 241 (1), which restricts district land boards to ‘only hold and allocate land which is not owned by any person or authority’. 

“This constitutional provision is repeated in section 59 (1) of the Land Act,” he said. 

The minister warned that if district land boards disregard section 59(1) (a) of the Land Act and go ahead to carry out a transaction, it remains void under section 59 (1a) of the Land Act as amended. 

The land title issued under such circumstances, Mayanja added, just “remains on paper.”

Public ground

On the public grounds on the three square mile land that is claimed by Buganda Land Board Limited, Mayanja told residents: “Given these facts, the public ground (ekisaawe) being claimed by Buganda Land Board Limited must be applied for by the community and the procedure of area committee and district land board shall be followed and the freehold title be given in the names of the Gombolola community.” 

The minister said Article 237 (8) of the Constitution covers the occupational guarantee of bibanja holders on private mailo and public land on lease and freehold. 

“A kibanja holder on public land means that the kibanja on which he or she sits is not available for the district land board or Uganda Land Commission to allocate to any other person other than the kibanja holder in occupation,” Mayanja said.