How the Land (Amendment) Bill passed
Dec 04, 2009
THE heated debate on the Land Amendment Bill dominated the Parliament last week. While tabling the Bill in 2007, housing minister Werikhe Kafabusa said it was intended to stop massive evictions.
By Henry Mukasa
THE heated debate on the Land Amendment Bill dominated the Parliament last week. While tabling the Bill in 2007, housing minister Werikhe Kafabusa said it was intended to stop massive evictions.
However, Buganda Kingdom opposed it, saying it was a ploy by the Government to grab its land. Buganda was joined by opposition MPs who vehemently argued that existing laws in the Land Act of 1998 and Penal code are sufficient to handle evictions of tenants.
However, the Government through the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, countered that those laws have not protected land occupants from unlawful evictions because they lacked deterrent punishments. The Bill, therefore, sought to criminalise evictions. Land minister Omara Atubo set the debate in motion three weeks ago after a lengthy speech in which he implored MPs to support the Bill. Nonetheless, the debate was split along party lines and defence of ethnically viable land tenure systems. All MPs from the North and East, for example, argued against a clause that had sought to protect tenants in customary land.
Outspoken opposition MPs from Buganda argued that the Bill was designed to create dual ownership of land with landlords and tenants having competing rights over mailo land. “This Bill has eyes. It’s looking at Buganda,†Erias Lukwago stated.
Alex Onzima (FDC) was the only opposition MP who supported the Bill. Surprisingly Onzima did not attend the climax of debate to cast his vote.
While several politicians appealed to MPs to avoid rousing tribal sentiments, others argued that land could not be divorced from tribal issues. A number of Buganda MPs wondered why debate on the Bill was being rushed before President Yoweri Museveni and the Kabaka conclude their discussions.
While proponents of the Bill said it would create better relations between landlords and tenants, proponents argued that it would cause more bloodshed as landlords become bitter and tenants get more determined to protect their occupancy.
Sometimes patience ran out and the Speaker exchanges words with some MPs. Michael Ocula who warned that the Bill would jeopardise talks between the President and the Kabaka got a dose of the Sekandi’s fury. Sekandi described Ocula’s comments as blackmail, adding that Parliamentary business could not stop because of endless consultations.
Buganda made a last pitch to block the Bill when its Attorney General, Apollo Makubuya, wrote to MPs a letter telling them that posterity other then party affiliation should be their guiding principle as they cast their vote on the Bill. But it was too late as most MPs chose to vote for the Bill.
In fact the destiny of the Bill was sealed several weeks before it was brought to the Parliament, when NRM MPs as a party decided to support it.
MPs mourn Balikoowa
Parliamentarians were this week pre-occupied with paying last respects to their fallen colleague, Budiope County MP Henry Balikowa.
He died instantly at about 10:30pm on Sunday after his car (Land Cruiser Prado) collided with a sugarcane tractor belonging to Mehta Group of Companies.
The news of his death, took MPs by surprise, blaming his death on poor roads and failure of the Government to enforce traffic rules.
THE heated debate on the Land Amendment Bill dominated the Parliament last week. While tabling the Bill in 2007, housing minister Werikhe Kafabusa said it was intended to stop massive evictions.
However, Buganda Kingdom opposed it, saying it was a ploy by the Government to grab its land. Buganda was joined by opposition MPs who vehemently argued that existing laws in the Land Act of 1998 and Penal code are sufficient to handle evictions of tenants.
However, the Government through the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, countered that those laws have not protected land occupants from unlawful evictions because they lacked deterrent punishments. The Bill, therefore, sought to criminalise evictions. Land minister Omara Atubo set the debate in motion three weeks ago after a lengthy speech in which he implored MPs to support the Bill. Nonetheless, the debate was split along party lines and defence of ethnically viable land tenure systems. All MPs from the North and East, for example, argued against a clause that had sought to protect tenants in customary land.
Outspoken opposition MPs from Buganda argued that the Bill was designed to create dual ownership of land with landlords and tenants having competing rights over mailo land. “This Bill has eyes. It’s looking at Buganda,†Erias Lukwago stated.
Alex Onzima (FDC) was the only opposition MP who supported the Bill. Surprisingly Onzima did not attend the climax of debate to cast his vote.
While several politicians appealed to MPs to avoid rousing tribal sentiments, others argued that land could not be divorced from tribal issues. A number of Buganda MPs wondered why debate on the Bill was being rushed before President Yoweri Museveni and the Kabaka conclude their discussions.
While proponents of the Bill said it would create better relations between landlords and tenants, proponents argued that it would cause more bloodshed as landlords become bitter and tenants get more determined to protect their occupancy.
Sometimes patience ran out and the Speaker exchanges words with some MPs. Michael Ocula who warned that the Bill would jeopardise talks between the President and the Kabaka got a dose of the Sekandi’s fury. Sekandi described Ocula’s comments as blackmail, adding that Parliamentary business could not stop because of endless consultations.
Buganda made a last pitch to block the Bill when its Attorney General, Apollo Makubuya, wrote to MPs a letter telling them that posterity other then party affiliation should be their guiding principle as they cast their vote on the Bill. But it was too late as most MPs chose to vote for the Bill.
In fact the destiny of the Bill was sealed several weeks before it was brought to the Parliament, when NRM MPs as a party decided to support it.
MPs mourn Balikoowa
Parliamentarians were this week pre-occupied with paying last respects to their fallen colleague, Budiope County MP Henry Balikowa.
He died instantly at about 10:30pm on Sunday after his car (Land Cruiser Prado) collided with a sugarcane tractor belonging to Mehta Group of Companies.
The news of his death, took MPs by surprise, blaming his death on poor roads and failure of the Government to enforce traffic rules.