The Catholic Church should embrace Land Bill

Jul 08, 2008

I wish to react to the article titled “Catholic Church rejects Land Bill” which was published in The New Vision of June 4, 2008. The story quoted Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya as saying, “The church abhors unscrupulous land owners who employ illegal and violent means to evict people from their pr

By Moses Byaruhanga

I wish to react to the article titled “Catholic Church rejects Land Bill” which was published in The New Vision of June 4, 2008. The story quoted Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya as saying, “The church abhors unscrupulous land owners who employ illegal and violent means to evict people from their property.” He reportedly added that, “The church says the Land Amendment Bill is not the right prescription to cure the rampant evictions. If passed, it may pose a further upset in the delicate relationship between the owners and bona fide tenants.” The prelate was also quoted to have attributed the evictions and the deterioration of the relationship between the tenants and the landlords to the “introduction of the so-called bona fide occupants and the demoralising busuulu (rent on land) of sh1,000 annually.”

It is encouraging that the bishop and the Catholic Church acknowledge that there are illegal evictions. However, the bishop thinks that the proposed amendments are not the right prescription. He also thinks the Bill pre-empts the land policy. But even if the land policy came before the amendments, it would not change the status quo. While a land policy is important, it cannot change land ownership or the relationship between the landlords and the tenants, which is a creation of the 1900 Agreement. Under the agreement, a person who originally owned land in perpetuity became a tenant to a new landlord who was allocated part of the 8,000 square miles in Buganda. The agreement created landlords who lived off the sweat of the tenants through collection of busuulu and envujjo (a tribute from the proceeds from the land). If the landlords were the users of the land as producers, most probably they would never have scampered for land which was already occupied by peasants. During the surveys, the landlords preferred land occupied by peasants because that was where they could get busuulu and envujjo. It is these people who occupied land before it was allocated to mailo owners that the 1995 Constitution recognises as lawful or bonafide occupants. Therefore, they are not “the so-called” lawful occupants as the bishop stated; they deserve a better description. They are not to blame for having been dispossessed of their land or robbed of their ownership rights.

Article 237 (8) and (9)of the Constitution recognise those who occupied the mailo land before it was allocated. The land policy, when passed, will not change the above constitutional provision that recognises lawful occupants and directs Parliament to enact a law for “regulating the relationship between the lawful or bonafide occupants of land and the registered owners of that land.” The Land Bill is meant to strengthen the relationship referred to in the Article above.

The land policy cannot change the ownership of land or the relationship between a land owner and the tenants, especially the lawful and bonafide tenants who are recognised by the Constitution.

The Land Amendment Bill is necessary because even the bishop recognises that there are illegal evictions. So should we leave people being evicted unattended to as we wait for the land policy? The Bill tackles illegal evictions by criminalising such acts. Under the Land Act, if a lawful occupant is being evicted, it would be difficult to stop the eviction because they have no title to the land and such a case would be a civil litigation.

Under the Bill, it is proposed that a person or group of persons who engage in illegal evictions, if found guilty, is liable to serve a seven-year jail term. This is a deterrent to the would-be evictors not to engage in such acts. We cannot leave lawful occupants at the good will of landlords and those who reject the Bill will have to abide by it when it is passed into law.

The writer is the presidential adviser for political affairs

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