[UAH] Cabinet team to probe digital land title project
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12:30 PM |
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The cries of real estate dealers, lawyers, banks and ordinary people who have been frustrated by the closure of land offices across the country have been heard by the cabinet which responded by instituting an inquiry.
A cabinet meeting of June 12 sanctioned an investigation after the minister of state for Lands, Idah Nantaba, revealed that the new computerised land registry system had not done much to stem fraud and the issuance of fake land titles. Nantaba, who heads a government committee seeking to halt illegal land evictions, was recently forced to suspend her work out of frustration.
A source familiar with the cabinet meeting says cabinet picked Tarsis Kabwegyere, the minister for General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, to head the cabinet's special committee to investigate the project. Other members of the committee include Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kahinda Otafiire, and Attorney General Peter Nyombi. The committee is expected to report back within one month.
According to our source, Nantaba's claim that the computerised system was not working attracted an angry response from some of her cabinet colleagues, including the Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, who chaired the cabinet meeting that day.
"It can't be that the computerised system has not kicked off, yet funds were released to have it completed," a minister reportedly commented.
The same minister proposed the creation of a committee to investigate the matter and bring all officials liable for the failure of the project to book. On her part, Nantaba said when she joined the ministry, she was assigned the duty of stopping the land evictions. Land registry computerisation, she said, was under her senior colleague Migereko's docket.
Angry Otafiire
Supporting the creation of a committee to which he was appointed a member, Maj Gen Otafiire, who has served in the ministry of Lands before, reportedly blamed unscrupulous staff, who he said should be dealt with firmly if a solution to the rampant manufacturing of fake land titles is to be found.
We have learnt that the minister of Health, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, also called for urgent attention to land issues in the country, warning that it is otherwise "a time bomb."
Ministry speaks
When contacted, Migereko said he was unaware of such a probe. The Permanent Secretary, Gabindadde Musoke, also said he was not aware of it, although he assured The Observer that the computerised land registry system had already started its work.
"You just have to visit the zonal offices to see for yourself," he said.
"The issue of manufacturing fake land titles is history."
None of the committee members we contacted was willing to divulge much. Otafiire could only confirm that he is a member.
"It is true I am a member of the committee but I can't speak about issues in a ministry where I am not a minister," Otafiire said, referring us to the Lands minister.
However, a source in the ministry said Nantaba's report to cabinet was influenced by challenges she faced as chair of the land committee. Last month, Nantaba was forced to suspend her committee's activities, accusing the police and Lands ministry staff of failing her.
Govt blamed
Some ministry of Lands staff blame government for the shortcomings in the digital project, including failing to address internet connectivity hiccups that are hampering its efficiency. Government contracted a French firm Institut Geographique National (IGN France International) to handle the $23.8m Desilisor (Design, Supply, Installation, Implementation of the land information system and securing of land records) project in six land zones of Masaka, Kampala, Mbarara, Wakiso, Jinja and Mukono.
By February, the firm had finished its part and left the country, before the ministry realised that its technical staff lacked skills to run the project. Connectivity problems were also reported. In an earlier interview, the ministry's spokesman, Dennis Obbo, told us that the French firm was expected back in the country this month to further train the staff and fix some shortcomings within the system.
"Besides the slow internet connection, they (government) have not given us funds to run power generators in case of power failures, and you know that power outages are rampant," our source said.
More so, the system can't make printouts of land titles because the required specialised printers have not been procured, the source added.
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