Govt wants to revive land tribunals

By Pascal Kwesiga

THE Government is seeking funds from development partners to finance the reinstatement of land tribunals.

The land tribunals were established in 2000 as courts of first instance in land matters, but they were phased out in 2004 due to inadequate funding to the judiciary.

Unlike, magistrates who currently handle land cases in court buildings and do not visit the land under contention, the land tribunal officials were required to inspect the disputed land. They were also meant to hold hearings on the disputed land.

The commissioner for land management in the lands ministry, Sarah Kulata, told development partners, land owners and district land officials that reviving land tribunals is on top of the ministry's agenda.

The ministry, she said, also intends to train traditional leaders and LC2 court officials to handle land cases.

"We want the traditional leaders and LC2 court officials to handle small land cases. The land tribunals will handle bigger cases, but we need money to do this," Kulata added.

She was speaking during the national stakeholders' workshop on the implementation of the national land policy at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala on Wednesday.

The national land policy which was launched in 2013 seeks to contribute to the transformation of Uganda through optimal use and management of land resources for a prosperous and industrialized economy with a developed service sector.

Kulata asked development partners to bank roll the revival of the tribunals and training of traditional leaders and LC2 officials to handle land matters to improve access to justice and promote good governance.

"We cannot tell when the tribunals will be revived, but we are here to identity potential development partners who can support us to achieve it,"

According to statistics from the judiciary, the number of cases stuck in the country's court system was 172,000 as of march 2015. Of these, 2,485 are land cases

The lands minister, Daudi Migereko, said the swift disposal of cases will lessen land conflicts.

Responding to requests from land officials from West Nile to expedite the processing of certificates of customary land ownership, Migereko said, "The certificate are ready and they are good, but where it is possible to get land titles please go for them,"

Dr. Margaret Rugadya, the programs manager at Ford Foundation, a US philanthropy that has funded the development of the implementation road map for the national land policy, pledged more funding to Uganda to improve land governance.

The United Nations resident coordinator on UN Development Assistance Framework, Ahunna Eziakonwa, observed that, if well implemented, the policy will contribute to the achievement of three of the 17 sustainable development goals which will replace the millennium development goals.

The head of land and global land tool network unit at the UN-Habitat, Antonio Danilo, called for proper land use planning in face of the current rapid urbanization across the globe. Poor proper land use planning, he noted, has resulted into development of slums in cities.