Ever since our last coverage of the controversy surrounding land especially in Buganda, the situation can at best be described as jumping from frying pan to fire. Cases concerning land related disputes have now become not only a daily but also favorite menu for the media for weeks on end. First was the controversial Land Amendment Bill, soon to be introduced in Parliament for debate, and whose details the Mengo establishment finds diametrically opposed to its interests.

Far from the political talk that is going on all over the place, some tenants are already bearing the brunt of the acrimony between the different parties. For instance, thousands of people face eviction or have already been evicted from land in different parts of the country. In Busiro County about a week ago, property developers evicted 600 tenants. Another 400 families were evicted from Baale in Kayunga. There was also a story in the news in which Kabaka Ronald Mutebi threatened to evict over 200 families from his Kigo land. (The Kabaka is the biggest landlord in Uganda). Daily Monitor of January 22, 2008 had a headline, "1,000 Nubians face eviction from Bombo. Government wants to take up the 50-acre land to relocate the Rehabilitation Center for disabled persons currently situated in Lweza in Wakiso district, which has been taken over by an investor.

In some cases, some warring parties have started employing the services of army generals to threaten their opponents into giving up their land. The case in study is the controversial land row on Entebbe road that was reported in the Weekly Observer, January 17 - 23, 2008. In the story, a divisive land row on the said road has turned tables in such a way that a Court of Appeal judge, an aggrieved party, is helpless to the point of appealing to the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Aronda Nyakairima. Justice Christine Nakaseta Binayisa Kitumba clearly had no choice after gunmen claiming to have the protection of president's Office continually tried to evict her from a three-acre piece of land she bought 37 years ago! In a letter dated January 9^th, Justice Kitumba laments that besides her land, even her own life is in danger.

In the recent past, schools located in the city center were a target to give way for mostly hotel construction. First to go was Kyagwe Road Primary School and Shimoni Dem. Schools that were demolished. The latter's land was offered free of charge to a Saudi Prince and investor, Mr. Saud al Waleed, said to be the fifth richest man in the world and owner of Kingdom Hotels International. However, to date the hotel is yet to be built. This story is similar to the plot where former UTV was located. The national television was demolished and relocated to give way for construction of the much-touted world-class Hilton International Hotel but the building is yet to rise from the foundation.  Now the Minister of Education has come out with an official line that it is a general policy that schools in the city center will be relocated on request from government. Affected schools will be relocated to the outskirts of the city, said Minister Namirembe Bitamazire. She added that this exercise would not only affect Kampala but also Jinja and Masaka.

However, the biggest of the controversies is that of the impending Land Bill amendment, which will soon be tabled in Parliament.

For starters, we hereby dissect the bill and see the inside through; Daily monitor columnist Moses Sserwanga very ably studied the bill and simplified it for the layman thus. The amendments generally affect the relationship and rights of the tenants as provided for in the constitution and those of the registered owners/landlords. Among the tenants, which the amendments seek to protect include ‘lawful occupants'. These are people in occupation of land under customary tenure but whose tenancy was not closed or compensated for by the registered owner when he or she applied for a public lease over the land.  The other significant category of tenants whose interests the land amendments seek to champion are those called bona fide occupants. A bona fide occupant according to the land Act is a person who, before the enactment of the 1995 constitution, had occupied or improved land without being challenged by the registered owner of the land or his agents for 12 years. Bona fide occupant also refers to a person (or a successor in the title of such a person) who had been settled on land by government or its agents including the local authorities such as district councils. The legal effect of these provisions is that the law treats a bona fide occupant as a tenant by occupancy - meaning that such a person is a tenant of the registered owner and that such a tenant is supposed to pay ground rent to the landlord. The 1998 Land Act had fixed ground rent at a laughable fee of Shs1,000 p.a. But the most controversial and important aspect of the amendments is that which deals with the grounds and procedure under which the landlord can evict a tenant. The amendments state that there is only one ground under which a lawful or bona fide occupant can be evicted and that is for non-payment of ground rent. The proposals further state that even for the eviction to be carried out, there must be a court order only for non-payment of the annual nominal ground rent. The amendments go further to criminalize any attempts to evict or participation in the eviction of a lawful or bona fide occupant from registered land without a court order. If such a crime is committed, such a person is liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding seven years. Some cynics fear that the bill will legitimize and make permanent the stay in Buganda of Balaalo (herdsmen) originating mainly from western Uganda. This Bill has already brewed unprecedented animosity between the central government and the Mengo establishment, as we reported in our previous article.

Watch this space for more updates on the land and other phenomena as they unfold.