UGANDA: Understanding the direction of Museveni's agenda on land

UNDERSTANDING THE DIRECTION OF MUSEVENI'S AGENDA ON LAND IN UGANDA

CHANGE OF GUARDS - Uganda's military dictator has repeatedly made no secret about his displeasure with the current land tenure system in Uganda.  He has made all efforts to dienfranchise some specific sections of the Ugandan society of their valuable land.  The scheme has given rise to the current scourge of institutionalized land grabbing by some privilleged regime agents and functionaries.

Museveni has repeatedly made it clear that he admires Tanzania's former president Julius Nyerere ideas on governance.  His latest assertion was during yesterday's IPOD summit;
           "...................That’s why I became his follower. He had the right idea."

Therefore, in order to understand the direction of Museveni's hidden agenda on land, one needs to examine HOW ALL LAND IN TANZANIA BECAME PUBLIC LAND VESTED IN THE PRESIDENT.

(Extracted from:  Theoretical Foundations of Land Law in Tanzania - Prof. Tenga WR and Dr. Mramba S.J.  Published by Law Africa Publishing (U) Ltd in 2014).

PRE-COLONIAL ERA
Before the advent of colonialism land was owned by family, clan and tribe.  It was owned communally amongst Tanzania's 120 different tribes as guided by their respective customary laws.  Chiefs, Headman and elders had the powers of land administration in trust for the community.  In some communities access to land was controlled by an oligarchy vested with political power.  Payment of tribute in form of produce and gifts was usual and a requirement for loyalty.  In the feudal societies like the Chaga of Kilimanjaro and the Haya of Kagera, the Kihamba and Nyarubanja had a form of payment tribute.  In the non-feudal communities, land was vested in the community as a corporate entity.

GERMAN COLONIAL ERA
In 1884 a German Karl Peters made concessions with some chiefs whereby all rights to alienated lands were transferred to the German East Africa Company (GEACo).  In 1891 a German Protectorate was declared over Tanganyika and it took over from GEACo.  The adoption of plantation agriculture raised the demand for land.  Consequently, the Imperial Decree of November 11, 1895  and its 1896 circular/rules to implement the decree were enacted.  All land was deemed unowned, regarded as Crown Land and ownership vested in the empire.  Exception was made of all land in private ownership or in possession by Chiefs or African communities.

All land grants had to be made by the Governor and land transfer from an African to a non African was not valid without the consent of the Governor.  Government institutions were given powers to grant land to planters and settlers who were exclusively non Africans.  The 1996 circular distinguished ownership claims and mere right of occupancy.  The former was proven by documents (certificates) and the natives occupying a particular piece of land.  This meant that the settlers who had certificates occupied "owned land" while the natives who had no documentary proof of ownership occupied "unowned land."

The Land Registration Ordinance Decree of 1903 introduced the land registry system that allowed registration of indigenous lands located within the boundaries of the communities or villages.  Therefore, four types of land tenures were introduced:
1.  Freehold for settlers through purchase or sale.
2.   leasehold granted by the Governor.
3.   Crown Land as determined by the Land Commission
4.   Customary Land tenure for the native communities.

The Governor had powers to acquire any freehold land for public use at original price and after compensation for any improvements made on it.  Leasehold was for 21 years or perpetual though the government could terminate it after 21 years with compensation.  Customary and native tenure could be purchased if occupier could prove private ownership but subject to the Governor's consent to the transfer to non native for more than 15 years. Therefore, under the Germans, the African natives' right to own land was guaranteed to some extent.

THE BRITISH ERA
After World War 1, Tanganyika became a mandated territory under the League of Nations entrusted to Great Britain.  The British policy on land was guided by Article 6&7 of the Mandate Agreement which respected native laws and customs with regard to holding and transfer of land and natural resources.  Through the Enemy Property (Disposal) Proclamation of 1920, all land that had been alienated by the defeated Germans was sold as enemy property to the British and a few Indians.  German freeholds and leaseholds were retained as British freeholds with the previous conditions formulated under the previous German administration.

The British enacted the Land Tenure Ordinance (1923) that declared all the land in Tanganyika occupied or unoccupied to be public land.  It also placed all public lands and interests over them under the control and direction of the Governor for the common benefit of all.  They also introduced a dual policy of land tenure - the native or demand rights and the granted rights.

In 1955, the British commissioned a Royal Commission to study the promotion of economic development in East African countries.  It found that customary land tenure was one of the constraints to development.  It recommended the individualization of land as opposed to communism ownership.  The report formed the basis of the Tanganyika Government Paper No. 6 of 1958 that proposed a shift towards freehold system and abolishment of customary tenure.  The report was criticized by the then leading independence struggle activist, Julius Nyerere under TANU in his paper titled MALI YA TAIFA (Property/Wealth of the Nation).

INDEPENDENCE ERA RETAINS THE COLONIAL ORDER
At independence in 1961, the Land Tenure Ordinance (1923) was retained with only the word Governor being replaced by President.  All land continued to be public land with the President as its custodian on behalf of the citizens.  The President retained powers to allocate and designate use of land.  The governing TANU under the leadership of Nyerere declared its scheme of building a socialist state.  It presupposed that all people had equal access to resources and exploitation of one man by another was unacceptable.  TANU's guiding principle was that landlords were exploiters. At independence some communities like the Haya of Kagera, the Chaga of Kilimanjaro and the Nyakyusa of Mbeya had attained some advanced stage of development and accumulation of private property in particular.

SOCIALISM
In his 1962 speech, Julius Nyerere, while opening the Parliament made it clear that the country was to pursue UJAMAA  (socialism) where national wealth was shared equally.  He said he wanted to make the Masai and Gogo attain the same level of development with the Chaga, Haya and the Nyakyusa.  He identified agriculture as the backbone of the economy before  announcing plans of moving rural people to live in communal villages where provision of education, mechanized agriculture, health, clean water, electrification,  small scale industries services,  etc would be easy.

CHIEFDOMS ABOLISHED
In the pursuit of building a socialist state, land as a factor of production took a center stage.  The struggle against feudalism targeting customary landlords started in 1962 to discourage customary landlords.  It culminated into the enactment of the African Chiefs Ordinance Act No. 3 of 1963 that abolished the institution of chiefdoms.

A Freehold Title (Conversion) and Government Lease Act of 1963 aimed at converting estates of Fee Simple into government leases for 99 years effective July 1, 1964 was enacted.  The Land Registry Ordinance of 1923 was renamed the Land Registration Ordinance with provisions for the government as the landlord to collect rent from former freeholders.  Also, any government lease had to seek the consent of the Commissioner for Lands before any disposition could be made.  Failure to abide by the development conditions, would lead to the lease being forfeited.

LAND AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In 1964 the TANU government launched the Five Year Development Plan (1964 - 1969) which adopted the conversion of the customary tenure  using two approaches - the improvement and transformation approach.  The government embraced an agricultural development within the existing framework.  Through agriculture extension services, manipulation of administered (government set) prices and government monopoly in the provision of farm inputs like fertilizers and improved seed varieties, the farmers had to submit to government.

PASTORAL LAND IS NATIONALIZED
The Five year Plan affected the pastoralist areas through the enactment of the Range Developement and Management Act No. 51 of 1964 aimed at conservation and management of pastoral or range areas.  On top of the establishment of government ranches, the Minister responsible appointed for each range area a Range Development Commission and a corporate Ranching Association.  Targeting areas formerly held under customary rights, the President could allocate land or grant right of occupancy to a ranching association.  Consequently, all customary titles to land including such rights as grazing and water were extinguished.

NATIONALISATION OF PRIVATELY OWNED BUSINESS AND BUILDINGS
Immediately after the Arusha Declaration in 1967, government took over private commercial banks, insurance companies, taken over shares ranging from 51 to 100% in industries, export and import trade placed in national hands. In 1971 the government passed a law that nationalized privately owned buildings in urban areas.  The ideas was to end exploitation by landlords who would collect rent from tenants.

The law allowed the seizure of building worth more than shillings 100,000.  An exemption was made for owner occupied buildings.  The move affected urban office buildings, shops, apartments, and middle class houses.  Compensation was only to be paid for buildings that  were less than 10 years old.  The presumption was that after ten years the owner of such a building has recovered the cost of construction.

From the published list of the seized buildings it was clear that it was the Asians (Indians and Pakistans) who had been affected.  Tenants were required to pay the next rent to government.  The loss of income from rent, exclusion from wholesale and import trade hit the Asian community.  Public servants, party leaders and other government employees were prohibited from owning remunerative property.

COMMUNAL SETTLEMENTS
The Nyarubanja Tenure (Enfranchisement) Act No. 1 of 1965 ended the feudal system of land holding in the Kagera region, the former Kingdom of Karagwe.  The Land Tenure (Village Settlement) Act No. 27 of 1965 empowered the President to grant a right of occupancy called a settlement right to the Commissioner for Village Settlement who would also in turn assign the settlement right to the Village Settlement Cooperative Society  who in turn granted derivative rights to (leases, licences) to its members. That way, freeholders were made more submissive to government.  The Rural Farmlands (Acquisition and Regrant) Act of 1966 granted leases to tenants of labdlords belonging to absolute lease owners.

THE ARUSHA DECLARATION
In February 1967 the government launched the Arusha Declaration that spelt out the policy of socialism and self reliance.  The policy evolved around public control of the economy with emphasis on rural development.  The socialist outlook was required and had the rejection of capitalism and all its attributes. The Land Acquisition Act No. 47 of 1967 was enacted allowing government to acquire land at will.  The Customary Leaseholds (Enfranchisement) Act No. 44 of 1968 was enacted to apply selectively on customary tenants of agricultural lands in some parts of Tanzania.  It was a struggle against customary landlords in favour of customary tenants.

URBAN LAND AND PLANTATIONS NOT SPARED
Next in target was the urban lands whereby the Urban Leaseholds (Acquisition and Regrant) Act of 1968 was enacted and it granted leases to tenants of land belonging to absentee lease owners for tenants of urban land.  The Coffee Estate (Acquisition and Regrant) Act of 1973 and the Sisal Estates (Acquisition and Regrant) Act of 1974 were enacted with the sole purpose of either passing land to those who were tilling it or to enable the government to take over such land.

UJAMAA (COMMUNAL SETTLEMENT)
The Rural Land Planning and Utilisation Act No. 14 of 1973 was enacted giving the President powers to declare any area Tanganyika to be a Specified Area.  It empowered the Minister of Regional Administration to make regulations pertaining to farming operations in area,  reserving the area or any part of it for the establishment of Ujamaa Villages (communal settlements) by extinguishing, cancelling and modification of the rights, titles and interests in or over percels.

Initially, relocation of rural populations to communal settlements was by persuasion and inducement.  Actually the core of Ujamaa had been to move people out of urban cities into newly created villages.  However, by 1970 only 531,000 people had voluntarily relocated and were living in 1956 villages.  Other sources put the figure at 800 or so settlements that comprised 2500 villages. Each village was supposed to have a minimum of 250 families (1,250 people).

OPERATION VIJIJI (FORCED RELOCATION)
Around 1972 it was resolved to use force to relocate people into these ujamaa villages.  Members of the security forces swung into action forcing people to relocate.  Homesteads and crops were destroyed in order to discourage families from resisting.  In some instances, people were blocked from returning to their former villages to tend to or harvest their crops.  By 1974 about 2.1m people lived in 5,628 villages throughout the country.

The exercise had been undertaken with no regard for the existing land tenure system and without any legal instrument. It was only until 1975 that the government enacted the Ujamaa Villages (Regulation, Designation and Administration) Act No. 21 of 1975.  It was followed by the General Notice No. 168 of 1975 in form of directives.  The task of allocating land to villages and Ujamaa villages in particular was vested in the District Development Council (DDC).

The Village Council would in turn allocate farmland to households according to need and ability to develop it.  The Village Council of Ujamaa Village acquired right of occupancy in respect of land within such limits thus extinguished customary tenure.  The bulk of land in Ujamaa villages was utilised commune all, plots were small and no one could boast of holding a title of customary nature in any village thus ending the customary tenure. By the time  the operation was abandoned in 1977, more than 79% (10m) of the total population was living in 7,300 villages.

ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE
Because the relocation had been hastily carried out,  in some cases villages which were not well cited, poor soils and unfavourable climate, the settlers spent much time in construction of new homesteads, others had to relocate more than once and other factors, food production fell far below 50%.

While some people were unable to engage in production, others were simply unwilling in protest against any resentment of the relocation policy. Consequently, in 1980 a countrywide famine struck and government had to seek food aid and importation of maize flour that was distributed in small rations. The last import of food had been during the 1973-74 draught.

NYERERE LEAVES POWER
Julius Nyerere left power after holding it for 23 years.  He left at a time when the country was one of the poorest in the world and with much reliance on food and economic aid from foreign donors.

The new government discarded the Arusha Declaration by adopting a free market economy, opened doors for foreign investment and encouraged/supported the flourishment of the private sector.

ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION ERA
Pressure in different sectors of the economy owing to liberalization increased the demand for land.  Modern farming methods, investment, urbanisation, growth of livestock and human populations coupled by land speculation by the rich and powerful called for the need to protect individual land rights.

People attempted to leave the communal settlements and return to their ancestry lands but only to find in some instances their lands had been taken over by the powerful.  This development coupled by the growing commercial interest in land exacerbated land conflicts.

OPERATION VIJIJI CHALLENGED IN COURT
Amidst widespread resentment, some sections of the population opted to go to court to challenge the taking of their land through Operation Vijiji of the 1970s.  The Courts were giving judgements in favour of the petitions for customary rights against granted land rights.  Faced with the threat of losing a barrage of cases,  the Chief Justice issued a circular to the effect that all land cases in different areas affected by the GN should not go on trial so as to give the government time to find a solution to the impasse.

PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON LAND REPORT
In 1991 the government commissioned a Presidential Commission of Inquiry into land matters.  The commission presented its interim report which identified the conflict between the granted rights of occupancy and the customary rights of occupancy.  To counter the likely implication, the government hastly enacted the Regulation of Land Tunure (Established Villages) Act of 1992.

It was enacted with the sole purpose of bringing an end to any claims relating to land it had acquired during Operation Vijiji.  It provided that all rights to use and occupy land under customary law held by villagers before Operation Vijiji were extinguished.  Its only rights acquired during Operation Vijiji and after the establishment of villages and customary rights in areas that had not been affected by the said operation were recognized by the Act.

It banned the payment of compensation as determined by court, it banned the filing of cases challenging Operation Vijiji and or execution of decrees validly issued by court in view of extinguishment of customary rights.  All such suits pending determination in court had to be terminated.

COURT TRIAL AND ORDERS HALTED
The Act invalidated all orders related to customary land issued by ordinary courts.  Such suits could only be brought before special land tribunals that were set up by the same Act.  Any party dissatisfied with the decision of the tribunal could appeal to the Appeals Tribunal and if not satisfied then to the Minister whose decision was final.

That move marked the end of customary law on land matters.  It even went further by invoking the 1973 Rural Land Act No. 14 that gave the President power to declare any area of Tanganyika as a species area. Pursuant to that Act, the government Notice (GN) No. 88 of February 1987 had stated that all customary rights within the area specified in the schedule to that order which are in Arusha region were extinguished and that where any customary land right was extinguished in accordance with the Notice, land shall vest in the District Council under whose jurisidiction the land was situated.

NATIONAL LAND POLICY
The Presidential Commission still went ahead and submitted its final report in January 1993.  It recommended that the major principles governing land  should be entrenched in the national constitution so that any process to alter its rules and acquisition could be subjected to the due process of law.

It recommended that land should be divided into national land and village lands.  That national lands should be under the National Land Commission (NLC) and its Board of Commissioners in trust for the use and benefit of the citizens.  That the NLC should be accountable to the National Assembly.  That management of village land should be in the hands of the Village Assembly which is composed of all adult members.  It further recommended the checking of the sweeping powers of the President over land administration.

The commission's report formed the basis for the 1995 National Land Policy (NLP).  Its recommendation on checking the powers of the President over land matters, making land a constitutional matter, and the establishment of a National Land Commission among others were outrightly rejected.  Instead, land continued to be vested in the President, tittle to land continued to be on the basis of use and occupancy, public land was categorized into Village land, General Land and Reserved land with the President reserving the right to  declare and transfer land from one category to another.

THE LAND ACT AND THE VILLAGE LAND ACT OF 1999
The NLP of 1995 gave rise to the enactment of both the Land Act No. 4 of 199 and the Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999.  The Land Act No. 4 covers General Land and Reserved Land while the Village Land Act No. 5 is for village land. For General Land, a person can apply and be issued with the granted right of occupancy subject to fulfillment of certain conditions for 33 -99 years.  It provides for full compensation for loss of interest in land but does not include those interests that have no direct market value (sacred places, ancestral burial grounds etc).

The Village Land Act recognizes the right of villagers to land held collectively by village residents under customary law.  It consists of both communism land and land that has been unutilized. The Land Act which is specific to land other than the village land, takes precedence on Village Land Act whose jurisdiction is confined to only village land.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION
The Courts (Land Disputes Settlement) Act of 2002 was  inacted creating four avenues of dispute settlement pertaining to land.  The Village Land Council, the Ward Tribunal, the District Land and Housing Tribunal, the High Court Land Division and the Court of Appeal.  Magistrates Courts only have jurisdiction on criminal matters arising out of conflict.  The Village Land Council is comprised of seven members drawn from local residents.  The Ward Tribunal has not less than four and not more than eight members.  No advocate is allowed to appear of act for any party in a land matter before the Village Council and the Ward Tribunal.  The District Land and Housing Tribunal is established by the Minister who appoints the Chairman and must have legal qualifications.  The Chairman works with not more than two assessors.  The Registrar appointed by the President and his Assistant appointed by the Minister are the Chief Executives for the administrative functions of the District Land and Housing Tribunal.  The High Court Land Division handles appeals arising from the District Land and Housing Tribunal.  Appeals from the District Land and Housing Tribunal go to the  Court of Appeal.

THE CONSTITUTION
The standing 1977 Constitution has a preamble that makes it clear that the country aims at pursuing if a policy of socialism and self reliance which emphasizes the application of socialist principles.  It is silent on land matters save for Art 24 which guarantees everyone's right to own property and the right to the possession of his/her property held in accordance with the law.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was only adopted in 1987. Individuals are deemed to own only improvements on land for a term of years.  The draft of the anticipated constitution which was debated in 2014 boldly takes care of land matters.  Unfortunately the new constitution making process has stalled.

THE NATIONAL LAND USE PLANNING COMMISSION
It was created by an Act of parliament in 2007 whose core function is to prepare regional physical land use plans, formulation of land use policies;  specification of standards, norms and criteria for beneficial uses and maintenance of equity of land.

LAND IN ZANZIBAR
In 1964 the island nation of Zanzibar entered into a union with Tanganyika to form Tanzania.  However, land was not made a union matter thus Zanzibar has its own unique policies and laws pertaining to land.  The 1965 land Decree vested all land (occupied and unoccupied) into the government with the President as the custodian.  The president has power to offer and terminate the offer of land.  With compulsory registration of all land, the government controls land use through regulation of activities on land including type of crops to be grown and the kind of building.  Interestingly land disposal is restricted to only citizens of Zanzibar to the exclusion of people from the former Tanganyika.

LAND IN UGANDA
The 1995 Constitution Article 237(1) clearly stipulates that land belongs to citizens who hold it in accordance with the four systems of land tenure.  These are customary tenure, mailo tenure, freehold tenure and leasehold tenure.  Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees security of private property which can only be taken over by government in the interest of defence, public safety, public order and public health upon prompt and adequate payment of compensation prior to taking possession and exhaustion of court process, if any.

During the inaguration of the 1995 Constitution, Museveni publicly expressed his displeasure with the provisions on land.  No wonder, by December 2017 the same constitution had been subjected to 65 different amendments including provisions on land matters.  Currently there is a pending controversial  Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 that is seeking to ammend Article 26 to allow the government to compulsorily acquire private land without compensation.  Government has its own land called Public Land.

Museveni has been obsessed with mostly the Mailo land tenure.  This is the system of land holding that is linked with feudalism in the traditional kingdom areas of Buganda, Ankole and Tooro.  These large chunks of land are held by royal families, former chiefs, religious and educational and health institutions.  Much of it has always had tenants commonly referred to as Bibanja holders.  Through constitutional amendments, the Land Act of 1998, the National Land Policy of 2013, Museveni had systematically moved to alienate those with registered interests in favour of tenants by occupancy.

These two entities had lived in harmony until Museveni came up with his divide and rule policies that introduced the so called bonafide occupants of land to cater for the mostly immigrant communities who had illegally occupied peoples land more especially in the central region.  He opened war against the so called absentee landlords, introduced the payment of mockery annual ground rent by bonafide occupants to landlords, introduced issuance of Certificates of Occupancy for the bonafide occupants of land,   he procured the Land Fund purportedly to payoff landlords on behalf of the bonafide occupants of land,  and introduced redundant Land Tribunals for settlement of land disputes.  He has been inciting those bonafide occupants of land against landlords.  In 2013 in Kiboga District, bonafide occupants of land hacked to death their landlord.

Museveni's scheme is to place land in the hands of these impoverished bonafide occupants of land who, unlike their landlords, will be able to sell of the land to his middle class of landgrabbers.  He is almost done with Buganda and that is why his focus now is on the vast customary land in the northern and eastern regions.

MUSEVENI'S VILLAGILIZATION SCHEME
In November 2018 Museveni, through his Ministry of Local Government launched a rural development strategy modeled on South Korea"s Saemaul Undong (SMU) rural development. The launch rolled out the scheme was to cover the whole country.   The model allows people in the village to take the lead in management of and implemention of their own projects from the onset with minimal supervision.
SMU was started in 1970 by for Korean lead Gen. Park and the name Saemaul Undong means New Village Movement.  The pilot project had been running in Uganda for the last four year in Mpigi district covering 4,765 people from 1,078 homesteads of seven villages.  The scheme is also in its infancy in Maracha, Luuka and Bunyangabu districts.  During the launch the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government said;
          "We have witnessed the success stories from the pilot project where we have been part. We are certain that this is the only way to end poverty in the country. This model allows communities to identify their priorities and take charge of their own projects,”

While Tanzania's Nyerere policies on land may have been well intentioned, Museveni is driver by the evil intentions of dusposessing some sections of Ugandans.

 As one scholar put it;
      "Land is source of livelihood and survival.  Whoever controls land logically controls the lives of others because he controls what guarantees survivor of human beings."

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM

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