Govt closes Land Registry for a month

By John Semakula

Members of the Public who are chasing after their land titles will have to wait a little longer to get them as Government closes the Land Registry for one month.   

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Gabindadde Musoke, told New Vision on Thursday that the Registry will close on December 15 close and open on January 15.

Gabindadde said the closure will give the Ministry a chance to carry out the crucial operations under the computerization exercise of the registry.

Government is in the process of shifting from a manual Registry to a computerized one expected to kick off in January.

Gabindadde said the closure will affect the Department of Land Administration at the Ministry and the Registries at the Land Offices in Masaka, Mukono and Mbarara.  

“No land transaction will be effected by the Ministry during the period of the closure,” he said.

With the computerisation of the Registry, Gabindadde said, Government will open up 21 zonal offices, six of which will begin work in January.

He said the six offices will be located in Mukono, Mbarara, Masaka, Jinja, Kampala and Wakiso.

Gabindadde said in the one month of the closure, the transfer of land records shall be effected from the Ministry to zonal offices.

“With effect from February, all land transactions and Land Administration in respect to Mailo, Freeholds and Leaseholds will be registered at the respective zonal offices without the members of Public having to travel to Kampala,” he said.  

The sector Minister Daudi Migereko said computerizing the registry will boost service delivery in line with the 2011 National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Manifesto.

Migereko on Thursday led a team of MPs to inspect the Kampala Zonal office at City Hall and the National Land Information Center (NLIC) building on Loudel Road.

The two facilities are at the final stage of construction and refurbishing ahead of the January deadline. Migereko said the five other zonal offices were also ready.

He added that the facilities will be opened by President Yoweri Museveni during the celebrations to mark the National Resistance Movement Day slated for January 26.

The $23.8m computerisation of the Land Registry project has been funded by the World Bank under the Private Sector Competitiveness Project two.