The 1995 Uganda Constitution enshrines five Land Tenure Systems, which include Mailo Land, Freehold System, Leasehold System, Customary Land and Public Land; whereas the Land Act of 1998 identifies four forms of land tenure systems, Customary, Leasehold, Freehold and Mailo Land.
But Mailo land tenure system in central Buganda however, has become one of the biggest land problems in Buganda and Uganda at large. To solve this problem once and for all, government through the land fund that was created to address such challenges is looking for 1.7 trillion shillings to dissolve the problem of mailo land.
Mailo land covers the largest part of central Uganda and some parts of Western Uganda; Mailo land creates dual ownership where you have the landlord and the tenant both have the registry interest on the same piece of land. But although the land Act clearly defines the relationship between the landlord and the tenants, many tenants do not know their right, which has made it easy for the landlords to abuse those rights.
One of the cardinal functions of this land fund is to solve the dual ownership of land under the mailo land system by way of buying off the landlord so that you free the land to be in the hands of the tenant alone.
But because mailo land has remained problematic having the same piece of land owned by two people, government decided to solicit money through the land fund to buy out the landlord of the mailo land so that they are compensated and leave the land in the hands of the tenant or even vice versa depending on what they may be.
This has been a recurring land problem up to-date, which calls for massive sensitization of the public and educating them to know what the law provides for them and what their rights are with respect to land.
Indeed the problem of mailo land needs to be resolved once and for all; this is because when it comes to development issues by government on such land, it definitely calls for compensation of both the landlord and the tenant.
In compensation, government considers the tenant more than the landlord. Both the landlord and the tenant are compensated in a ratio of 40 to 60; 40 in the favor of the landlord and 60 in favor of the tenant.
Most of the evictions that have taken place in central Uganda occur because of some landlords who abuse the law or people who buy the interests of the landlord and in the end abuse or misuse the law to evict the tenant and yet the law gives adequate protection to this tenant on the land.
This increasingly disturbing challenge of land grabbing and abuse of the law has totally affected crop production in the country as the ignorant communities can no longer plant a seed or invest in agriculture fully. The given land is now divided into small plots, while others have lost it all. This also has affected the economy of the country.
The land sector in Uganda, therefore, needs to be financed if the country is to successfully generate revenue through agriculture production, to allow development right from the household level.
