Museveni warns against land fragmentation

By Vision Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni has warned that the increasing land fragmentation if not checked, will adversely affect food production in the future, and called on leaders to mobilize communities against the practice.

"Do not allow land fragmentation. Teach people not to divide the land physically but instead divide what comes out of the land. Form a family company.

“What I have done for my family is that even if am in heaven, I will not allow them to divide my land. The family foundation must remain together and must never be divided," he said.

The President was speaking at the Zonal Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Enterprise selection for Madi region at Entebbe State House.

The conference organized for each region in Uganda and will run for two weeks by State House, is being attended by technical staff including production officers, NAADS coordinators, and Members of Parliament, ministers and technical people from stakeholder ministries.

According to a release from State House, the Ugandan leader said it is only when leaders understand the need to awaken their people to the need for transformation from tradition to modern society that the nation can survive in modern times.

"If we continue with land fragmentation what will happen in the future?  Where shall we cultivate? Everywhere is a housing estate. This, coupled with bad human settlement, has rendered parts of the country especially in Kabale, Bugisu etc, unproductive. As leaders what are you telling the people?" questioned Museveni.

The conference seeks to mobilize and sensitize the public about effective land use through enterprise selection and mix for poverty alleviation. Among other things, it aims to know enterprise priorities per region that can give an equal or greater income to what a homestead spends, how much homesteads are spending on needs per annum, the average land holding per homestead and identify government intervention gaps.

Museveni however cautioned that selecting enterprises for food security and incomes must be done carefully by researching on local, regional and international demands.

‘Border conflicts’

The President said the border conflicts with Sudan would be resolved because the borders are clearly defined in the Constitution of Uganda.

He further explained that the internal border conflicts will also be handled amicably, warning that nobody can change borders from the colonial times.

"Nobody can remove people because of borders. People who are engaged in quarrels are wasting their time. For example, Sembabule is in Buganda but it is occupied by the Banyankole. Even if a village of Madi is in Amuru, nobody will remove it. Preserve your energy for fighting poverty," he advised.

The Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi cautioned technocrats that whatever is planned, however good, cannot achieve desired results unless there is efficiency both among the technocrats and leaders.

"These five years which the people of Uganda have entrusted to the movement government with must experience a big change in service delivery,” Mbabazi said.

“We are not interested in hearing people speaking or in newspapers. We want implementation and delivery of quality service. All the contracts for civil servants will be based on performance.”