Busoga Diocese issues guidelines for titling church land

________________

Busoga Diocese has issued guidelines to be followed in the titling of its land across the diocese.

According to the diocesan secretary, Rev. Canon Aggrey Kasadha, the procedures will require clergy to announce plans to survey church land and subsequently convene meetings for church council members to deliberate on the process in detail.

During these meetings, he said, churches must clearly stipulate the size of their land, indicating where it begins and ends.

This is contained in a letter dated April 7, 2026, addressed to the Dean of Christ’s Cathedral Bugembe, the Very Rev. Canon Dr Joy Mukisa Isabirye, in which he emphasised the need for recorded minutes as proof that such meetings were held.

Kasadha added that clergy are expected to invite LC1 village chairpersons and their executives to participate in demarcating the land and drawing sketch maps in the presence of church council members.

Busoga Diocese Secretary Can. Aggrey Kasadha (L) flanked by Bishop Grace Lubaale (C) together with the land and estates officer Can. Charles Irongo at Christ's Cathedral Bugembe in Jinja city recently. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)

He noted that the LC1 chairperson will thereafter stamp the forms.

Clergy will also be required to involve sub-ounty, town council, or division land committees to verify the details and sign the forms.

After completing these processes, churches are expected to raise sh400,000, which will be deposited on the Busoga Diocese bishop’s consecration account to facilitate the surveying and titling exercise.

“A team of surveyors will come on the ground to survey the land scientifically and return with the stamped forms,” reads the letter copied to the Busoga Diocese bishop, Rt Rev. Prof. Grace Lubaale.

Earlier, Lubaale said the diocese had already put in place key requirements, including assembling a team of surveyors and lawyers, as well as mobilising resources to safeguard and recover church land.

According to the bishop, all church land belongs to the registered trustees of the Church of Uganda and God, and must be managed responsibly in line with church policy.

“It is not my land as a bishop; I am just a steward as per the church’s policy of remaining good stewardships. Our task is to rescue, recover church land in its totality,” he noted.

While giving an update on the status of the diocese, Lubaale said there is a need to protect church land from encroachers.

“Having a title reflects good stewardship, protecting it from land grabbers. For us who are in leadership today and those who will come in after us must appreciate that the titles won’t change,” he said.

He cited examples of long-held titles, including the diocesan headquarters land, titled in the 1930s, and Busoga College Mwiri, which was registered in 1939 under the Native Anglican Church.

He also referenced St James Church in Jinja city, titled in 1936, and Bukwenge land in Kamuli district, registered in 1939.

With such documented history, he said, it would be difficult for anyone to contest ownership of church land.

Encroachers warned

He warned individuals who have encroached on church land to vacate immediately or face legal action.

If there are cases involving theft or impunity, he said, those responsible must leave without delay.

“Where church land is two acres, and we have every documentation to the same and if for some reasons individuals encroached on it or for some reason there was corruption involved to secure, I want to inform those people to vacate with immediate effect,” he remarked.

Beyond preaching, the bishop said his responsibility includes ensuring that church land across Mayuge, Jinja, Kamuli, and Buyende districts, as well as Jinja city, is secured through proper titling.

He called on clergy, Christians, LC1 chairpersons, area land committees, district and Jinja city land boards, police, and the media to support the process.

He explained that some land was donated, some purchased, and some inherited by the church, all of which must be formally registered to ensure proper custody.

In cases where church councils resolved to rent out land as a source of income, he said this should not be mistaken for theft.

However, he cautioned that individuals, including clergy and heads of laity, who personally lease church land would be held accountable.

Such individuals, he said, would be required to reclaim the land immediately, with any compensation handled at an individual level rather than by the church.

The bishop also noted disputes involving descendants of individuals who originally donated land to the church.

“We are dealing with them according to the laws of the country, if your grandfather donated land before you were born, and the church has been here for 70 years, we are using the laws to prove where their claims come from,” he said.