{UAH} Buganda registers all bibanja owners

Buganda registers all bibanja owners

Written by Sadab Kitatta Kaaya

Last Updated: 29 May 2015

Buganda Kingdom's efforts to take control of its land which is in the hands of various local governments has been hampered by the indifference of district officials.

About a year ago, the central government returned 213 titles to Buganda Kingdom. However, Buganda is yet to take possession of these properties because district land boards are reluctant to hand over to the Buganda Land Board (BLB), records of transactions made on the land before it was handed back to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi in April 2014.

"The district land boards have not been co-operative because they know that they gave away a lot of land illegally," Buganda Land Board acting chief executive officer, Bashir Juma Kizito, said on Tuesday, while briefing journalists about the planned mass registration of bibanja holders (tenants) on Kabaka's land. The exercise, which kicks off on June 1, aims to streamline land ownership in Buganda.

Kizito said: "Because they want to cover up their fraud, they have refused to give us records of the transactions, and some DLBs like Masaka are already engaged in forgeries and backdating the titles." 

Kizito added that Luweero and Mpigi are reported to have similar problems. Consequently, Buganda Land Board has embarked on an exercise to survey land comprised in the 213 land titles that the government returned to the kingdom.

"The exercise has already started in Kyaggwe (Mukono and Buikwe), Ssese (Kalangala islands) and Busiro (parts of Wakiso), and is geared at having all the kingdom land in all the counties surveyed by the end of the 2015/16 financial year," Kizito said.

 

BIBANJA HOLDERS

Buganda Land Board's mandate covers more than 600 square miles of land in Buganda with an estimated occupancy of more than one million tenants. Guided by the kingdom's land management policy and the national land policy, BLB is embarking on the identification of bibanja owners on the land largely to encourage them to regularize their tenancy. 

The exercise is to be launched in Mukono and Buikwe districts (Kyaggwe) before rolling out to other parts of the kingdom.

"The objective is to provide an opportunity for bibanja holders to document their ownership, and to provide for planning and guided land utilization," Kizito explained.

To register, bibanja holders will be required to present documented proof of ownership such as sale agreements, wills or donation deeds. This will be in addition to three passport photos, a sketch map of their respective kibanja and Shs 100,000.

 

sadabkk@observer.ug

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