DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL
LAND POLICY FOR UGANDA
BACKGROUND

Land Policy development process and land
reform has been on Uganda’s agenda
since 1983 when the government
established an Agricultural Policy
Committee that resulted into a report on
Land Tenure and Agricultural Development
in 1989
Land Tenure and Agricultural
Development Report, 1989
In 1983, Govt. of Uganda established an
Agriculture Policy Committee for purposes of
coordinating, directing and reviewing key
policies and programs in the agricultural sector
 The Committee, together with Makerere
Institute of Social Research and the Land Tenure
Centre- University of Wisconsin, USA carried out
a detailed study on Land tenure and agricultural
development in Uganda

This study made several recommendations but
was the first study that also informed the initial
process of policy reform in Uganda.
 Among other things: The study recommended
the policy alternatives for Uganda as a country
and also pointed out alternative tenure policy
that could stimulate social and economic
development in the agricultural sector.

Odoki Commission Report 1992
This Commission commonly known as the
famous Odoki Commission of 1988, was
appointed by Government to review our
constitution and make proposals.
 Under Land proposals and recommendations
for the new Constitution of 1995, issues on
land tenure, land use, management,
POLICIES came out leading to a change in
the management system as is now in
ARTICLE 237 OF THE CONSTITUTION 1995,
and Land Act CAP 227

1995 CONSTITUTION
The Constitution points out the salient
issues for the land policy process in
Uganda through Article 237
 Land belongs to the citizens of Uganda
 Land shall be held in accordance with four
tenures (customary, freehold, leasehold,
Mailo)
Government can acquire land in public
interest
 Parliament to make a law regulating the
relationship between bonafide and lawful
occupants on registered land
 Parliament to make a law providing for the
acquisition of registered interest by lawful
or bonafide occupants

Salient issues in the 1995 constitution
Uganda Land Commission to manage
government land
 The rest of land to be managed by District
Land Boards
 District Land Tribunals to handle land
disputes cases
 Non-citizens to acquire only leaseholds

1998 Land Act
Came into force on July 2nd 1998
 Operationalises the principles laid down in
the Constitution of 1995
 Implementation of the Land Act is not
realised fully because, among other
things, there is no comprehensive policy
 2001 a Strategic Plan is put in place
(commonly known as the LSSP) as a
mechanism to carry forward the reforms

LSSP 2001-2011
The LSSP was designed to provide for the
operational, institutional and financial framework
for the implementation of sector wide reforms
and land management including the
Implementation of the Land ACT.
 One of its key strategic objectives was the
development of a National Land Policy, which
was pro-poor and putting in place a systematic
framework for addressing the role of land in
national development,

land ownership, distribution, utilisation,
management and control for poverty
reduction.
Land Use Policy
Within the framework of the LSSP, under
land utilisation and management, we have
developed a draft Land Use Policy
Background cont’d
Based on that background, in 2001 the
then Ministry of Water, Lands &
Environment agreed that as part of the
policy formulation process, there had to
appointed a National Land Policy Working
Group (NLPWG) to steer this process.
 NLPWG was then appointed in 2001

Composition of NLPWG
The membership of this working group
was drawn from both public and private
sector institutions, government
departments, NGOs and other
stakeholders working on land.
Progress Made So Far
Issues Paper for the NLP was completed in
2004
 In a retreat with all the key stake holders
and the Working Group, areas that needed
further studies / research were agreed on
 5 study areas were identified and
consultants hired to undertake these
studies

Key Study areas
The areas identified and recommended
as key study areas included:
Study on Revenue Generation, Utilisation,
Sharing and Mechanism for Fiscal Transfer
 Study on Integration of Traditional Land
Administration in the Land Act and
Management of Common Property
Resources in Uganda
 Study on Resettlement, Landlessness and
Internally Displaced Persons

Study Areas cont’d



Study on Privatisation and Divesture of Land
Services
Study on HIV/AIDS, Property Rights and
Agricultural Productivity
All consultancies were short term consultancies
and the all these studies provided POLICY BRIEFS
for the National Land Policy development process.
Drafting of the NLP

Uganda has reached its 2nd draft of the
National Land Policy
2ND DRAFT UGANDA NATIONAL LAND POLICY: PRINCIPLES
What are some of the Policy Principles
covered in this 2nd draft National Land
Policy?
The draft is divided into a three- band model,
comprising of a policy element/principle, the
objective of the policy element and the
proposed strategies for addressing the issues
as raised.
 The major policy principles cover the following 6
areas/themes:
Policy Principles cont’d
Land in the National Development
Framework
2. The Legal Regime
3. The Land Tenure Framework
4. The Land Rights Administration
Framework
5. The Land Use and Management
Framework and,
6. The Policy Implementation Framework
1.
I. LAND IN THE NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES
Land as a factor of production

Land is one of the major factors of production
that underpins national development especially
through the agrarian sector. In order to
ensure increased contribution of land to
economic productivity, and commercial
competitiveness, the national land policy
for Uganda will have to design and
execute a paradigm shift from emphasis
on land ownership to land development.
Land and Poverty Eradication

Land as a tool for poverty eradication: To
ensure that the land sector contributes
effectively to poverty eradication, the national
policy of Uganda will have to protect the poor
from activities which deny them access to
the land resources they hold or occupy;
such as land grabbing, speculative and
distress land transfers and indiscriminate
evictions and destruction of property in
rural and urban areas.
Land and Governance

To ensure that the management of the
land sector contributes to democratic
governance, the national policy of Uganda
will carry out land reforms within the
government policies of
decentralization, divestiture,
empowerment of the people
including the private sector.
Land, Peace and Security

Competition over land caused among others, by
population growth, resource depletion, and
scarcity, is the cause of conflict, insecurity and
environmental stress in many parts of Uganda.
In order to restore stability in land
relations, and the resumption of
sustainable livelihood activities, the
national policy of Uganda will seek to
address all the root historical and current
causes of conflict driven by competition
over unregistered land masses.
II. THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL
FRAMEWORK
UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES
Uganda is perhaps one of the few former
British colonies in which the land question has
always been at the center of the constitutional
and legal discourse. The result is that land
issues are mired in a bed of complex
constitutional structures and processes,
drawing legitimacy from historical as well as
contemporary political exigencies. This has
created problems and ambiguities in the
Uganda’s property system.
UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES

The NLP should ensure that: The juridical status of
land and, especially, the modalities through which
land rights are created, acquired and protected
should be simple and clearly defined; ie, the NLP
should be able to eliminate ambiguities on Residual
sovereignty over land; “land belongs to the citizens of
Uganda”, define the Power of eminent domain
(Policy should ensure that the power of eminent domain
is used by the state and local authorities responsibly and
strictly in the public interest); ensure police power of
the state is used responsibly for public good i.e. the
authority to regulate the use of land held under
any tenure.
POLICY PRINCIPLES UNDER CONSTITUTIONAL
& LEGAL FRAMEWORK Cont’d

Components of the land question which must be
anchored in the Constitution should be confined to
issues of the location of radical title, the
classifications of land ownership characteristics,
and state/land relations (ie clear whether the
citizens of Uganda, individually or collectively can
assert residual authority against the state, local
authorities and community governance organs in
respect of unallocated or vacant land) and;

The NLP should ensure that there is clarity in both the
Constitution and the Land Act as to what the role
of the state is or should be in land sector
development.
The Land Tenure framework: Policy
Principles

The regulatory framework for land sector
operations should be rationalized in
such a manner as to eliminate
overlaps, internal conflicts,
bureaucratic competition and
inconsistent normative prescriptions.
There should be an enforcement
framework for public regulations, putting
in place penalties for any violations.
Classification of tenure regimes:
 The Constitution and the Land Act provide that land in
Uganda may be held in terms of four tenure categories
only. These are customary, freehold, mailo and
leasehold tenure. The incidents of those tenure regimes
(other than leasehold) are defined in terms of
generalities which establish no particular frontiers
 In order to clarify these issues, the national land
policy should amend the relevant provisions of
the Constitution and the Land Act to provide for a
simplified, progressive and affordably
implementable land tenure system in Uganda.
Land Tenure Framework
UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES

Tenure determines, in a very general sense, who may
have access to what land, for what purpose and for
how long.

A good land tenure framework should guarantee
security of tenure and access, ensure equity in
the distribution of land resources, eliminate
gender discrimination in ownership and
transmission, and preserve and conserve resources for
future generations; The policy should ensure that
those who need land and depend on it are able
to obtain secure tenure and access to it.
PRINCIPLES UNDER LAND TENURE
The tenure system should also ensure
that land markets in all tenure regimes
function efficiently and in support of the
social economic and cultural needs of the
land using public.
 The policy should ensure that natural
resources are protected, preserved and
sustainably used.

Principles Under Tenure cont’d
All tenure regimes should ensure that natural
resources are protected, preserved and
sustainably managed;
 Policy should guarantee effective protection to
and preserve the quality and value of common
property resources
 The policy should ensure that women are able to
gain secure access to land and that all
international conventions outlawing
discrimination against women are fully complied
with (including the widows, children,
PLHIV/AIDS)

Principles under tenure continued

Individual land tenure systems should be
facilitated to develop and evolve in response to
competing social, economic and political
demands..

Development control authorities, particularly
urban authorities, to ensure that they effectively
enforce development control in all areas under
their jurisdiction as stipulated in the laws and
regulations
Tenure cont’d
Policy should review the two tenures (freehold
and mailo) to subject them to rules and
conditions that apply to leasehold in urban
areas. Government land should be protected
and sustainably be managed.
 Policy should sort-out the multiple land
rights on all tenures (lawful/ bonafide
occupants)
 Policy to ensure framework for Communal Land
Associations

LAND RIGHTS ADMNISTRATION
FRAMEWORK
UNDERLYING POLICY PRINCIPLES
Land rights administration refers to the
structures and processes through which
land rights and appurtenant incidents are
refined, created and recorded; integrity of
transactions assured and guaranteed; land
rights disputes processed; and land
information inventoried, utilized or
otherwise archived
LAND ADMN. PR’PLES CONT’D



Land rights administration systems must be designed
and operated with a view to enhancing and facilitating
the management of land resources both as property
vested in the public, communities and individuals, and
as an asset central to national development;
Land rights administration structures and processes
must be transparent, cost-effective and accessible to
the ordinary land using public;
Land rights administration must be treated as a
professional function hence should not only be
delinked from routine public administration, but more
importantly, be insulated from demands exerted by
political elites bent on appropriation of land resources;
and
LAND ADMN. PR’PLES CONT’D

Policy development must recognize and seek to
strengthen the existence and buoyancy of two
parallel but complementary and interactive
systems of land rights administration in Uganda,
namely, indigenous and community based
systems which operate as part and parcel
of the social and political organization of
territorial communities, and statutory (or
state) systems governed by imposed law
and which vary by tenure regimes, land
categories and resource characteristics.
Policy Principles on Regional &
International Frameworks
The National Policy of Uganda will be to
strengthen regional co-operation in the
management of trans-boundary and
national resources
 Uganda National Policy will be to comply
fully with international commitments on
the management of climate change
parameters.

Way Forward





Agree on a draft National Land Policy for
consultations by mid December, 2006
To conduct regional consultations starting
January, 2007
To conduct consultations with special interest
groups starting February, 2007
To have a National Conference by
September, 2007
Draft Policy for submission to Cabinet by end
of 2007