Mulondo warns on mailo land tenure
A senior presidential adviser on land has warned that Baganda will reject the proposed land reforms.
By Felix Osike
A senior presidential adviser on land has warned that Baganda will reject the proposed land reforms.
Besweri Mulondo, in a letter to the lands minister, Omara Atubo, said a recent recommendation by experts for the mailo land tenure system to be scrapped, was surprising.
The experts’ report proposed that in urban areas, all mailo and freehold land be converted into leasehold. They argued that the leasehold system accelerates development.
The mailo land system empowers an individual to perpetually own land while leasehold calls for renewal of land ownership after every 49 or 99 years.
Mulondo pointed out that during Idi Amin’s regime, efforts to abolish mailo land and introduce the leasehold system were opposed and they flopped.
“In making these decisions, are we prepared to annoy the population once again? Please recall that that this act made Amin unpopular among the Baganda,†Mulondo asserted in the letter copied to President Yoweri Museveni.
He observed that the 1995 Constitution recognised four land tenure systems, namely, freehold, mailo, leasehold and customary. He wondered why only the mailo system was recommended for scrapping.
Mulondo also asked: “Who is going to be the absolute owner of this land? Is the intended owner going to buy the interests of the current owner and then give him a lease? Or is the Government going to grab people’s land and then issue leases?â€
He proposed further consultation and noted that the problem was not the mailo land system but inefficiency in the lands office.
A senior presidential adviser on land has warned that Baganda will reject the proposed land reforms.
Besweri Mulondo, in a letter to the lands minister, Omara Atubo, said a recent recommendation by experts for the mailo land tenure system to be scrapped, was surprising.
The experts’ report proposed that in urban areas, all mailo and freehold land be converted into leasehold. They argued that the leasehold system accelerates development.
The mailo land system empowers an individual to perpetually own land while leasehold calls for renewal of land ownership after every 49 or 99 years.
Mulondo pointed out that during Idi Amin’s regime, efforts to abolish mailo land and introduce the leasehold system were opposed and they flopped.
“In making these decisions, are we prepared to annoy the population once again? Please recall that that this act made Amin unpopular among the Baganda,†Mulondo asserted in the letter copied to President Yoweri Museveni.
He observed that the 1995 Constitution recognised four land tenure systems, namely, freehold, mailo, leasehold and customary. He wondered why only the mailo system was recommended for scrapping.
Mulondo also asked: “Who is going to be the absolute owner of this land? Is the intended owner going to buy the interests of the current owner and then give him a lease? Or is the Government going to grab people’s land and then issue leases?â€
He proposed further consultation and noted that the problem was not the mailo land system but inefficiency in the lands office.