MPs reject works ministry land title inventory citing errors

KAMPALA - Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on Thursday rejected a report detailing land titles currently in the custody of Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT) over errors.

The land titles in question were originally acquired by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) for smooth execution of public infrastructure projects.

However, following the recent rationalisation of government agencies (RAPEX) policy, which was aimed at streamlining functions and cutting administrative costs, these assets were transferred to the parent ministry.

Under Section 7 of the Uganda National Roads Authority Act, UNRA was mandated to acquire, hold and manage land on behalf of the government for road development.

The development unfolded on Thursday, July 24, during an engagement between Members of Parliament on the Physical Infrastructure Committee and officials from the ministry led by Permanent Secretary Waiswa Bageya.

The committe was chaired by Vice Chairperson Allan Mayanja Ssebunya (Nakaseke Central, NUP)

Also in attendance was former UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina, who was recently appointed chairperson of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council.

The meeting was anchored on the Auditor General (AG) Edward Akol’s report on UNRA for the financial year ending December 2024. Notably, the contested land inventory had been part of the documentation the ministry was instructed to present during its previous appearance before the committee on Friday last week.

Figures

Trouble started after Eng. Isaac Wani, the head of network planning and engineering, reported that “the Ministry of Works and Transport received 8,606 land titles belonging to different PAPs (Project Affected Persons) along different road corridors. These titles were received on behalf of the Ministry by our officer called Kanyesigye Dennis, who can give further details,” Wani said.

Adding that, although the land acquisition unit had only recently been staffed, work was now set to begin.

“As briefed by the PS during the last meeting, we have been in the recruiting process. The section for land acquisition has now been fully staffed, staff have been deployed, we now have a principal office and some staff. So work is actually going to start this quarter when we receive money to begin processing and then returning some of these titles,” Wani explained.

“So, between January and June, we didn't do any work because staff were not yet in place, and work is actually going to commence this August,” he added.

Chipping in, Bageya lauded the move as timely, saying, “There are members of the Public, the owners of these titles, who are always knocking on our doors. They want these titles for various reasons. So, we are trying to allocate resources and see how we can clear the backlog.”

Land acquisition policy

Previously, under UNRA’s Land Acquisition and Resettlement Policy (LARP), land acquired for public projects was subdivided, with the acquired portion transferred to UNRA and the remaining (residual) title returned to the original owner.

Additionally, the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) team was tasked to return residual titles to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) within six months of compensation and obtain a consolidated title for the Right of Way (ROI).

Buhweju County MP Francis Mwijukye (FDC) said that the delay in fast-tracking the process amounted to cheating landowners of their rightful amounts.

“My concern is that after an assessment has been done and land titles are kept for so long, and the PAPs are not cleared, the land appreciates. You find that when you accessed, someone’s land was worth sh10 million, and you have kept the titles for two years or so, what happens? Do you do another assessment or go by the one you did at that time?” Mwijukye posed.

 He was, however, guided by Eng. Wani clarified that most of the owners of the aforementioned titles had been compensated.  He added that in isolated instances where the process stalls, the process is guided by the Chief Government Valuer.

“If we delay paying, I think it is up to three years before we can go back to revalue and submit them back to the Chief Government Valuer. But most of these are really for subdivision and then returning to the owner,” Wani explained.

Glaring errors

However, before long, Kashari South lawmaker Nathan Itungo (Indep) chipped in with saying that the land titles inventory MOWT had handed to the committee was riddled with errors.

“This document on page 2 starts at number 17,” he said.

“At the level of a ministry, there are some land titles or whatever which are handwritten. I think somebody sat under the tree and wrote these figures. PS, can you explain this? Where is page one? What happened to entries one through sixteen? This is what happens when documents are brought late. They want to ambush us, but basanze tulaba (they’ve found us alert),” Itungo charged.

He added that the report should have clearly indicated what was returned to whom and who had been compensated, details that were entirely missing.

To avoid further back-and-forth, MOWT Permanent Secretary Waiswa Bageya further explained that, "these titles are safe and well locked up. There is no cause for alarm.” 

“This was an anomaly. Maybe when someone was printing, he missed the first page,” Kanyesigye defended himself. 

Fast forward, COSASE asked the ministry to submit a factually correct and coherent document henceforth.