BY Sharon Kyatusiimire
A report by Oxfam Uganda has shown that more Ugandans
especially the rural poor, women and the youths are increasingly losing their
rights overland, a thing that is pushing them further into poverty and hence
worsening inequality between the rich and the poor.
According to the report titled 'Locked Out', the poor
population, young people and women most of whom live in rural areas has been
locked out from enjoying their land rights.Land disputes according to the report stem from the
post-colonial land laws and the available policies have failed to effectively
deal with perpetual land questions.
Speaking at the official launch that happened at Mestil Hotel
in Kampala on recently, the state Minister for Lands, Persis Namuganza said
because of the increasing population, this has exerts much pressure on land and other Biodiversity’s resources in the Country
which has resulted into land disputes and
Environmental degradation.
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| Minister Namuganza making speech during the Launch of the Report |
The Minister explained that those with less power on lands
across the country have been forced to encroach on gazetted Biodiversity such Forest’s,
wetlands and in turn this has big negative impact on the country’s Environment.
“Some of those people you see encroaching on wetlands,
destroying the country’s forest are there because of inequality in the land ownership
that is why we are experiencing some
floods in some parts of the country because of Land Injustices which most
people especially the rural poor are expiring” She explained.
She added that the Government is doing everything to tighten
the Land Laws to offer protection for the vulnerable groups.
"At the moment we have over 43m people, by 2030, the
population will be 50m and 100m by 2050. The land of Uganda has remained
constant hence the need to put in place laws and regulations that will ensure
effective use of this limited land for all Ugandans," she said
The Oxfam Country Director Edward Mwebaze said that there’s
a huge gap between the poor and the rich according to the recent researches
done by the organisation in 2017.
“The poor are marginalised and many were locked up off their
land, paid less or payment delayed. We invite the authorities to come up with
clear solutions to deal with the situation,” Mwebaze said.
Between 1996 and 2012 the richest 10% of the population
increased their share of national income from 29.9% to 35.7%. On the contrary,
the share of the poorest 10% decreased from 3.2% to 2.5%.
Presenting highlights of the report, Dr.Fred Muhumuza from
Makerere University said that people
providing paid agricultural labor and people in subsistence farming are more
likely to be poor than those whose main income is commercial farming or other
non-agricultural enterprise.
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| Dr. Fred Muhumuza the Brain behind the Report |
“The use of land also has an impact on households that are
not directly dependent on land-based activities. This is through the production
of food, export revenues, and industrial production that influence the price
levels and value of real income,” Muhumuza said.
He added that the most frequent causes of disputes around
land relate to boundaries, rights of way or access (36%), ownership or use
(25%), land grabbing (22%) and missing or unclear land titles (4%).
“The inadequacy of land dispute resolution mechanisms is a
major contributor to inequality,” he said, adding: “Trust in dispute resolution
mechanisms is undermined by interventions of the Office of the President in
cases that are already in court.”
