The ever-escalating land grabbing

By Brian Nasala

As the global population increases and environmental pressures affect the climate, high demand for agricultural products has created a grave threat to food and water security. These circumstances have forced many nations, corporations and wealthy individuals with adequate capital to make large-scale investments to accumulate fertile land and water resources for economic gain. This, however, has resulted into an ever-escalating problem of "land grabbing." 

Property rights and issues such as land grabbing, are at the heart of the problem of poverty in today's world. The world's poorest people live in circumstances in which they can be summarily thrown out of their homes and off their land (Haugen and Boutros, 2014).

In Uganda, widows and orphans are among the most vulnerable to experience land grabbing. Following the death of the husband, it is common for relatives, community members, authority figures and other opportunists to plunder the estate that belonged to the deceased. In a study conducted in Mukono County by International Justice Mission, it was found that nearly 40% of widows faced an attempt or actually experienced land grabbing in their lifetime.

Based on a 2008 household survey by the Ministry of Justice covering 20 districts in Uganda, approximately 35% of the households reported experiencing land conflict at a household level. It also found that land grabbing was frequently violent, often including domestic violence, assault and murder. Land grabbing is without a doubt one of the most complex and widespread violations of human rights in our era.

Many remedies have been put in place to solve this vice. Perhaps the most commonly known is legal redress: proving you are the rightful owner of the property. Some have proposed land documentation as a way of securing one's land against land grabbers, these although positive steps in the right direction do not solve the issue entirely.

A holistic solution is needed if our country is to protect, promote and fulfill its citizen's property rights.

Parliament should amend the succession Act and the Administrator General's Act to attach heavier punishment for succession related crimes. Acts such as Intermeddling (taking possession or control of any property of the deceased's estate without first obtaining letters of administration or grant of probate) carries a punishment of three month imprisonment or a fine of up to sh200, or both. For most perpetrators this is a risk worth taking. Court cases are often not decided in time for victims to benefit from the ruling. Another common act is eviction or attempted eviction of widows (throwing a widow or her minor children out of the family home where they are entitled to live). This action carries a punishment of six months in jail or a fine of up to sh1,000 or both. Most of the laws relating to Succession Law were passed in the 1960's and it is, therefore, high time that these laws are revised to meet the current developments and this includes raising the punishment which will create deterrence.

The Police need to recognise land related cases as criminal offences and not merely civil matters that need settling. Oftentimes these cases escalate and lead to murder or many other crimes. Once these challenges are handled effectively in initial stages, unwanted occurrences will be prevented.

We need to comprehensively tackle the social norms that discriminate against woman's ownership of land. In many of our customs, Buganda for instance land does not cross clans. The implication is that a woman cannot own land because she marries into another clan. When the husband dies, she is not allowed to own this land as it remains in the husband's clan. These deeply imbedded norms ought to change. 

The writer is a student of ethics and human rights at Makerere University