FIT-FOR-PURPOSE USER RIGHTS DOCUMENTATION: THE CASE OF PRIVATE

MAILO LAND IN UGANDA

THORSTEN HUBER1, MOSES MUSINGUZI2, RESTY NAMULI1, DANIEL

KIRUMIRA1

1Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Kampala, Uganda

thorsten.huber@giz.de, resty.namuli@giz.de, daniel.kirumira@giz.de

2Department of Geomatics and Land Management, Makerere University, Uganda

musinguzim@hotmail.com, musinguzim@cedat.mak.ac.ug

Paper prepared for presentation at the

“2018 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY”

The World Bank - Washington DC, March 19-23, 2018

Copyright 2018 by author(s). All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this

document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice

appears on all such copies.

ABSTRACT

Central Uganda is characterized by the existence of Mailo Land Tenure System under which interests of

registered owners are subject to unregistered occupancy rights of lawful and bona fide tenants. Mailo tenure

is a feudal land tenure system originating from an agreement between the Buganda King and the British

Government in 1900, which formalized the relationship between the Kingdom of Buganda and the

Protectorate Government. Under the agreement, 1,003 square miles was allotted to the King, his family and

the big chiefs, both in their political capacity and in private ownership, while 8,000 square miles were

allotted to about 1,000 chiefs and other notables, with the discretion of the Lukiiko (The parliament of the

Buganda Kingdom).

During land allotment, the plight of peasants who had been occupying the land as peasant farmers and clan

heads (bataka) were not discussed. As such, pre-existing interests of smallholder farmers, particularly land

use rights were not legally recognized. More often than not, interests of registered owners and tenants over

the same parcel of land often lead to disputes such as whether the claimant is bona fide or lawful occupant

as defined in the law. The uncertainty on who is the rightful occupant on Mailo land has often led to losses

arising out of fake land deals by unscrupulous people. Furthermore, the national land registry (Dept. of

Land Registration) and the cadastral office (Dept. of Surveys and Mapping) hold information on registered

Mailo owners, land sizes, boundaries and encumbrances. However, information on lawful and bona fide

occupants is not stored and neither is it provided as part of search reports from the land offices. The burden

of proof of occupancy rights is left to the purchaser, who must visit the land and make investigations on the

history of ownership and occupancy rights. The confusion on Mailo tenure including land evictions, land

losses and land conflicts has not only slowed down land development but has negatively impacted on the

growth of a vibrant land market.

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) created the Special

Initiative “One World, No Hunger” aimed to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. A component of this

project is currently being implemented in the Districts of Mityana and Mubende (Central Region) in

Uganda. This project is co-funded by the European Union (EU). The overall objective of the project is to

contribute to improved food security, improved livelihoods and poverty alleviation for small-scale farmers

and other users of natural resources, in particular for women and marginalized groups in Central Uganda.

The project includes components of capacity development, sensitization and mobilization of communities,

alternative land dispute resolution, recordation and mapping of occupancy rights using Fit for Purpose Land

Administration tools.

Mapping and documentation of land rights is undertaken by a land inventory team comprised of members

of Area Land Committees (ALC), village local councils and Land Inventory Assistants. The demarcation

exercise in each village is undertaken after careful sensitization and awareness creation of both, landlords

and tenants. The process of capturing and management of land rights data relies on open source software

named “Cadastre Register Inventory Saving Paper” (CRISP) and QGIS. CRISP has been developed based

on the Land Administration Domain Model (party, right, and parcel). The software has been adjusted to fit

to the specific context and needs of private Mailo land tenure in Uganda. The project generates a Land

Inventory Protocol (LIP) which is a non-legal, social evidence of the right to land as a first step to the

recognition of tenants’ land rights. Captured user rights data will form the basis for increasing transparence

over private Mailo land. At a later stage, it is planned that the captured occupancy rights data will be

integrated into the National Land Information System (NLIS) to further secure the user rights since both

registered right and occupancy right could then be viewed in the same system. This will also serve as a

basis for informed negotiation between the landlord and tenant on the options for securing land tenure

rights.

Key Words:

Private Mailo, Land Inventory, Occupancy Rights, Fit-For-Purpose, Uganda

1 BACKGROUND TO LAND GOVERNANCE IN UGANDA

Uganda is a landlocked agriculture-based country located in East Africa and is one of the five countries

constituting the East African Community. Uganda’s total land area is 241,559 sq km out of which 16% is

occupied by open water (GOU, 2018). The most recent National Population and Housing Census puts

Uganda’s population at 34.6 million persons (UBOS, 2016) which reflects an increment of 30% in a period

of 12 years.

1.1 Land Tenure Systems in Uganda

The constitution of the Republic of Uganda vests land in the hands of the citizens, which implies that apart

from government owned land and land that is held in trust by government (such as wetlands), the rest of

the land is held privately by individuals, families and communities. The 1995 constitution further provides

for four land tenure systems under which land can be held, namely; freehold, leasehold, customary and

Mailo tenure. Apart from customary tenure which existed before colonialism, the other three tenure systems

were introduced after the year 1900 when the first land sharing agreement was signed between the British

Government and Buganda Kingdom.

Freehold is essentially an individualized type of land tenure which reduces community control over land

significantly. Before independence, freehold land was given as a grant to the citizens of Uganda and existing

institutions (religious organizations, educational institutions and other big corporate bodies) by the colonial

government (Pedersen, Spichiger, Alobo, & Kidoido, 2012). Freehold tenure remained one of the land

tenure systems after independence, defined under the Public lands Act 1969. Freehold titles would be

granted to an applicant targeting occupied or unoccupied customary land (Mugamba, 2007)1. Freehold

tenure was abolished under the land reform decree of 1975, but was re-introduced in 1995 when a new

constitution was promulgated. Freehold is currently the government’s preferred land tenure system in

Uganda.

Leasehold tenure is defined in the Uganda Land Act 1998 as the holding of land for a given period from a

specified date of commencement, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the lessor and

lessee, including a sublease. The Public Lands Act 1969 provided for allocation of leases of 49-99 years on

public land and on long term statutory leases which were granted to urban councils. The leasehold tenure

was further strengthened by the 1975 land reform decree, which empowered the government to lease any

1 Originally, freeholds would be granted on occupied land without consent but later it became mandatory to obtain consent from customary occupants.

land occupied by customary tenants to any person (including the occupants) without the consent of the

occupants. The decree downgraded the perpetual Mailo interests into leases of 49 years and threatened the

rights of lawful and bona fide occupants on Mailo land as well as customary land owners as tenants at

sufferance2. Leasehold tenure continues to exist under the current legal framework as subleases on Mailo,

freehold and customary tenure, but is also the only tenure system available for non-citizens.

The customary tenure as defined under the Ugandan law refers to a system of land tenure regulated by

customary rules which are limited in their operation to a particular description or class of persons.

Customary tenure system existed before and after Uganda’s independence as an informal system, but was

formally recognised in the 1995 constitution which attempted to elevate it to the level of the other formal

tenure systems. It is estimated that customary tenure constitutes 80% of Uganda’s land (MoLHUD, 2013),

taking up all the rural land in Uganda except for most of the Central region.

Mailo tenure on the other hand is a form of tenure deriving its legality from the 1995 Constitution and its

incidents from the written law. Mailo involves the holding of registered land in perpetuity just like freehold

but permits the separation of ownership of land from the ownership of developments on land made by a

lawful or bona fide occupants.

1.2 The Evolution of Private Mailo Tenure

In 1894, Uganda was declared a British protectorate, as part of the partition and colonization of Africa. This

warranted the need to have a land settlement between the protectorate government and the Regents who

were in charge of administration of the then Buganda Kingdom. As a result, the 1900 Buganda agreement

was signed; an agreement that among other matters specifically dealt with land. Under the agreement, 1,003

square miles were allotted to the King, his family and the big chiefs, both in their political capacity and in

private ownership (Mukwaya, 1953) while 8,000 square miles were allotted to about 1,000 chiefs and other

notables, with the discretion of the Lukiiko (The parliament of the Buganda Kingdom). The allotted rights

were equivalent to the freehold under the English law but the name Mailo Tenure (probably derived from

the word ‘Mailo’ the Luganda translation of the word mile) was adopted under the 1908 land law to

distinguish it from the English law.

2 A tenant at sufferance is the situation when a tenant of real estate continues to occupy the premises without the landlord's consent after the original lease or rental agreement between the landlord and the tenant has expired ( see US Legal help - https://definitions.uslegal.com/t/tenant-at-sufferance/ )

During land allotment, the plight of peasants who had been occupying the land as peasant farmers and clan

heads (bataka) were not discussed. As such, pre-existing interests of smallholder farmers, particularly land

use rights were not legally recognized (MoLHUD, 2013). Previously, the relationship between the chiefs /

land owners and occupants was essentially political rather than economic but this became an important

issue after the protectorate government introduced high value crops such as cotton and coffee. The land

owners became concerned that the occupants were economically gaining from the land without sharing the

gains with them. Some land owners had started exploiting occupants by levying heavy dues such as

surrendering a portion of their harvests from the occupied land or providing in kind labor. The impasse

between landlords and tenants was partially addressed by the protectorate government by introducing the

Busuulu and Envujjo Law of 1928, which streamlined the relationship between the landlord and tenant.

Progressively, Mailo tenure evolved and gained acceptance as a tenure system with overlapping interests

between the registered owner and the occupants until the time that it was abolished by the 1975 Law Reform

Decree. It is also important to note that the 1966 Constitution abolished kingdoms and vested all land

previously owned by kingdoms (Buganda, Bunyoro and Toro) into the Uganda Land Commission, which

was in charge of all government and public land. The Land Reform decree further abolished all laws that

had been passed to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants in Buganda, Ankole and Toro

(Busuulu and Envujjo law); scrapped off the protection of the occupants (Kibanja tenants) which had

required their consent and compensation before dispossession.

There followed a period of uncertainty (between 1975-1995) regarding acquisition, inheritance and

purchase of the Bibanja (The term bibanja is the plural form of kibanja, which is used to mean occupancy

right on land). This period saw an increased and unregulated settlement on bibanja and expansion of the

same. The landowners also massively started to evict the tenants, a fact that the Constituency assembly

deliberating the Constitution were mindful and subsequently put a provision in the 1995 Constitution to

avert the social unrest. Article 237 of the 1995 Constitution restored the original three land tenure systems

in Uganda (freehold, leasehold and Mailo), repealed the land reform decree of 1975 and introduced the

bona fide and lawful occupants on registered land.

The 1995 constitution recognized the customary tenure as a formal system of holding land for the first time

in the history of Uganda. The Land Act, later in 1998 operationalized the constitution and defined bona

fide and lawful occupants and offered protection of the tenants from evictions. A lawful occupant under the

Ugandan law is a person occupying the land by virtue of the Busuulu and Envujjo Law of 1928, Toro

Landlord Tenant Law of 1937, Ankole Landlord and Tenant Law of 1937, or a person who entered on to

the land with the permission of the registered owner or a person who occupied the land as a customary

tenant but whose tenancy was not disclosed or compensated for by the registered owner by the time of

acquiring the land title (section 29(1)). A bona fide Occupant is a person who before the coming into force

of the 1995 Constitution, had occupied, utilized and developed the land unchallenged by the registered

owner or his/her agent for twelve years or more; or had been settled on the land by government or its agent

including a local authority.

1.3 Overview of Land Governance Institutions in Uganda

In Uganda, Land Administration operates within two parallel systems comprising a) the traditional

customary/informal systems governed by customs and norms of given communities and b) the

statutory/formal (state) system governed by written law. The two are not in harmony and often lead to

confusion as the institutional arrangements are not clearly spelled out and the two systems are not at the

same level of development (MoLHUD, 2013): Chap 5).

The Constitution of Uganda decentralizes the land administration function. The lead ministry for the

delivery of land services is the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD), which is

mandated to formulate national policies and strategies, to initiate amendments to existing legislation, to set

national standards for matters regarding sustainable use and development of land and provision of safe,

planned and improved housing/human settlements, and to monitor and coordinate initiatives in the Local

Governments as regards to the lands, housing and urban development sub-sectors. It further provides

support to Local Governments on matters falling under their thematic responsibility.

Under article 23, the Constitution further details the functions of the Uganda Land Commission as “to hold

and manage any land in Uganda vested in or acquired by the Government of Uganda in accordance with

the provisions of this Constitution and shall have such other functions as may be prescribed by Parliament”.

The District Land Boards (DLB) hold and allocate land that is not owned, and facilitate the registration and

transfer of interests in land, and determine the annual ground rent. The DLBs are supported by technical

staff in the District Land Offices (DLO) who include the Land Officer, Land Surveyor, Valuer, Registrar,

Cartographer and Physical Planner.

Area Land Committees (ALC) are established at sub-county level ( local government level below the

district) and their major role is to adjudicate upon and demarcate boundaries of land, on behalf of the District

Land Board. The Recorder at the sub-county level (Senior Assistant Secretary) has a role to issue

Certificates of Customary Ownership (CCO) and Certificates of Occupancy (CoO) to tenants on Mailo land

and to register subsequent land transactions on the basis of the said certificates.

Despite the existence of the above mentioned land institutions, many of them remain grossly underfunded

and which leads them to ineffectively deliver land services. There is an overlap in mandates between the

Ministry Zonal Offices (MZOs) – the decentralized offices of the MLHUD in 21 regions of the country -

and District Land Offices and sometimes the DLB. Some of the key positions in these institutions,

especially DLOs, have not been filled. Because of logistical problems, Members of DLBs and ALC are

often not inducted into their functions and may lack technical capacity to execute their mandate.

The issues are even deeper when it comes to land justice institutions. The Land Act makes provisions for

land tribunals, mediators, local council courts and traditional institutions (clan leaders, elders) on customary

land. In addition, there a number of other institutions that have taken up the role of land justice institutions

because of the cross-cutting nature of land issues. Such institutions include Uganda Police (where there is

a criminal element), Office of the Resident District Commissioner (where land is considered a security

issue) and Presidents Office. For most disputes on private Mailo land, parties often go straight to courts of

law where they may be frustrated by delays arising out of bureaucracy and case backlogs. These institutions

do not often complement each other, a fact that has led to “forum shopping” (where parties address their

cases to different instances at the same time). These uncoordinated overlaps sometimes worsen land

conflicts. To reduce the pressure of land cases in Courts of Law, mediation on land matters was made a

mandatory step before a case is heard in courts of law (The Judicature (Mediation) Rules No 10 of, 2013).

During mediation sessions, traditional authorities can be brought in to provide useful insight.

2 THE PRIVATE MAILO LAND PROBLEM

Mailo land tenure is a central issue in any land policy or land reform discussion in Uganda. Its importance

arises from a number of factors: firstly, the location of Mailo tenure system in Central Uganda, and more

especially in and around Kampala (the Capital City of Uganda), makes it the most important land tenure

system that holds most of the economic activities and high value investments in the country. More than 52

percent of the land in Kampala city is held under Mailo tenure, about 30 percent is public land administered

by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and leased to private interests, about 8 percent is owned

by the government for its use, and about 7 percent is freehold and owned by institutions ( Giddings, 2009).

Secondly, it is extremely difficult to discuss Mailo tenure issues without awakening sensitive political

discussions. Discussions on Mailo tenure have in the past inevitably revived previously shelved political

tensions between the Central Government and the Buganda Kingdom, which is considered to be an

important and sensitive factor in the Uganda national politics. Needless to mention is the proximity of Mailo

land to reliable fresh water sources and the fertility of the soils that make it a major food basket for the

country.

The implementation of Land Act 1998 has attracted skepticism from key stakeholders including the

Buganda Kingdom, which has led to two amendments within the first twelve years of enactment. The first

amendment of 2004 and the second amendment of 2010 were both largely aimed at enhancing the security

of occupancy of lawful and bona fide occupants on registered land. Whereas the first amendment reviewed

the ground rent from Ugx 1,000= to a figure determined by the District Land Board and approved by the

Minister, the second amendment restricted the powers of eviction by landlord. The landlord is permitted

under the law to evict a tenant only on the basis of failure to pay rent.

During the formulation of the Uganda National Land Policy in 2013, the uncertainties associated with Mailo

tenure were comprehensively discussed. Eventually, the policy acknowledged: the disagreements by

landowners about the definitions of bona fide and lawful occupants introduced by the land Act; the

unresolved issues on the value of ground rent to be charged; the problem of overlapping interests by Mailo

owners and occupants; and the problem of absentee landlords. Given that these factors are still prevalent

on private Mailo land, provision of universally accepted solutions to these problems will go along in

enhancing the productivity of land held under the Mailo tenure system in Uganda.

2.1 The Problem of overlapping rights on Mailo Land.

Studies reveal that in Buganda region, over 80% of rural Mailo land is tenanted and therefore cannot be

easily sold in the open market or mortgaged (Ahene, 2009). The overlap of ownership and use rights on

Mailo land has been identified as a key issue that reduces investments and causes productivity inefficiencies

in Uganda’s predominantly agricultural economy - especially in Central Uganda. The large amount of land

under Mailo tenure with associated productivity losses is suggested to be quantitatively large, and

underlines that failure to clarify land rights on Mailo land can be a significant impediment to rural

development in Central Uganda ( Ali & Duponchel, 2017).

More often than not, interests of registered owners and tenants over the same parcel of land often lead to

disputes such as whether the claimant is a bona fide or lawful occupant as defined in the law. The

uncertainty on who is the rightful occupant on Mailo land has often led to losses arising out of fake land

deals by unscrupulous people. The National Land Registry (Dept. of Land Registration) and the Cadastral

Office (Dept. of Surveys and Mapping) hold information on registered Mailo owners, land sizes, boundaries

and encumbrances. However, information on lawful and bona fide occupants is not stored and neither is it

provided as part of search reports from the land offices. The burden of proof of occupancy rights is left to

the purchaser, who must visit the land and make investigations on the history of ownership and occupancy

rights. Parallel transactions over registered land as well as undocumented tenancy rights continually

compound the situation.

Many factors are increasingly making the co-existence of landlords and tenants on the same piece of Mailo

land complicated. Through inheritance, land has changed hands from the original set of landlords and

tenants who appreciated the social relationship between the two parties. The new set of landlords and

tenants do not appreciate the essence and dynamics of the original arrangement. Furthermore, there has

been a lot of migration and resettlement by people from other parts of Uganda who lack familiarity with

the concept of overlapping land rights between a landlord and tenant. After purchasing a kibanja (or

occupancy rights), such people presume full rights on the land and hence may not respect the landlord.

Similarly, people who purchase Mailo interests look at occupants as squatters and may sometimes attempt

to evict them illegally. The general perception of a number of current land owners is that tenants are

preventing them from enjoying the value of their land, while many tenants do not see the reason why they

should pay money to landlords. The land policy 2013 identified five ways in which issues between landlords

and tenants are to be resolved, namely:

(i) Land sharing and re-adjustment through negotiation between the registered land owner and

lawful or bona fide occupant,

(ii) Government to facilitate tenants on registered or government land to access the National Land

Fund to purchase or acquire registerable interests,

(iii) Establish an administrative mediation committee in districts with predominantly landlord-

tenant issues to mediate between landlords and tenants willing to share land,

(iv) Set guidelines to adjudicate, mediate and sensitize on land rights between tenants and registered

land owners, and

(v) Government to buy interests of tenants from the landlord and selling it back to the tenants using

the National Land Fund.

It should be noted that most of the suggested policy directions have not been implemented and none has

been actualized into law. Section 33 of the Land Act, further provides for the issuance of a Certificate of

Occupancy (CoO). A tenant by occupancy may apply to the registered owner for and be issued with a

certificate of occupancy in the prescribed form in respect of the land which he or she occupies.

Although the above measures may go a long way in reducing the tension between landlords and tenants on

Mailo land, they are likely to face technical challenges arising from lack of accurate verified information

on occupancy rights, genuine claimants, and sizes of land held by occupants, boundaries of occupancy

rights, value of developments on the tenancy and lists of occupants on each Mailo parcel. This information

can be provided through a land inventory. A land inventory may in addition to the above options, present

an important step for a tenant to apply to the landlord for a Certificate of Occupancy.

2.2 Evidence-based research on conflicts on Private Mailo Land Tenure

There is overwhelming evidence to support the assertion that Mailo tenure harbors a lot of land conflicts

hence justifying the need to provide long lasting solutions. Land conflicts should be dealt with, given that

insecurity about the ability to use land reduces incentives to make land-related investments not only by

local farmers but also by outside investors and the government (Binswanger, Deininger, & Feder, 1995)

A study conducted by the World Bank found out that land conflicts have the potential to lower productivity

and equity in land by a factor of more than 2 in Uganda (Deininger & Castagnini, 2004). The study

identified boundary disagreements and tenancy as the most encountered disputes (at 49% and 36% response

level, respectively) followed by inheritance (at 11%) and conflicts concerning use of public lands (at 4%).

Landlord-tenant issues accounted for 49% of land disputes in central region of Uganda hence highlighting

importance of the need to address these problems.

A household survey commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional affairs in 2008 and

conducted in 20 districts identified that land disputes rank the highest among conflicts countrywide and are

often the cause of other disputes including family and domestic violence, assaults and murder ( Rugadya,

et al., 2008)). The study identified that prevalence of land conflicts at household level was high (34.9%)

and was slightly higher amongst rural households (36%) compared to urban households (33%). The most

prevalent land conflicts point to lapses in tenure administration and management especially with regard to

boundaries (32%), ownership (19%) and its transmission, occupation, trespass and fraudulent transactions.

Inheritance and succession wrangles account for (15.5%) and illegal occupation is rated at 12.3%.

These results closely compare with those from another study undertaken for GIZ in Mityana and Mubende

districts in Central Uganda at the household level, in which preliminary (unpublished) results indicate that

occupancy boundary disputes and landlord tenant disputes were the most significant conflicts (both at 35%

response level) followed by family disagreements (at 18%). In Mityana and Mubende districts, most of the

tenants live with a general perceived insecurity of losing their land in the next 5 years (21%) and the fear

of losing their land if the landlord sold to a new owner (41%).

3 THE RESPONSIBLE LAND POLICY PROJECT IN UGANDA

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) created the Special

Initiative “One World, No Hunger” aimed to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. Action Area 6 of the

initiative focuses on the “Promotion of responsible land use and improvement of access to land”.

Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU) is part of the Global Project Responsible Land Policy

implemented in five countries that contribute to the initiative through documenting land use or ownership

rights for the rural smallholder farmer households.

The project is currently being implemented in the Districts of Soroti and Katakwi (Teso sub-region) and

Mityana and Mubende (Central Region). The overall objective of the project is to: “Contribute to improved

food security, improved livelihoods and poverty alleviation for small-scale farmers and other users of

natural resources, in particular for women and marginalized groups in Central and North-Eastern Uganda.”

The specific intervention in Central Uganda on private Mailo is co-funded by the European Union (EU)

through the project “Improvement of Land Governance in Uganda to Increase Productivity of Small-Scale

Farmers on Mailo-Land” (ILGU) and is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Lands, Housing

and Urban Development (MLHUD). A pilot phase has been initiated with the Makerere University School

of the Built Environment, the district and sub-county governments in the two district, and a number of Civil

Society Organizations.

The ILGU project aims at tackling the land use deadlock on private Mailo to increase land-related

investments and boost agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers. This should in the long run

contribute to improved food security, improved livelihoods and poverty alleviation for small-scale farmers

and other users of natural resources, in particular for women and marginalized groups in Central Uganda.

The focus of the ILGU project is on three Action Areas:

1) Improve the institutional framework and procedures to secure tenure rights in Central Uganda;

2) Increase the engagement of the civil society in the formalization and implementation of a

responsible land policy

3) Raise Awareness of private agriculture investors and financial institutions about responsible land

policy along internationally agreed guidelines and the National Land Policy (NLP)

3.1 Capacity Development

Capacity is defined as an Organization’s potential to perform, its ability to successfully apply its skills and

resources to accomplish its goals and satisfy its stakeholders’ expectations (Horton, et al., 2003). Capacity

for comprehensive implementation of Uganda’s land policy can be measured on the basis of the components

of land administration (land tenure, land value, land use and land development). A recent study on capacity

assessment by The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) identified a general lack of capacities in terms of

financial and human resources within the land sector to implement the National Land Policy. The study

observed that capacity gaps at the Ministry level were manifested by lack of financing of essential services

while at the local level, the institutions such as DLB and ALC were completely not financed or had not

been constituted (GLTN, 2017).

The project - Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU) cosnidered capacity development as a

prerequisite for land policy implementation in Uganda. The project contributed to capacity development at

the national level by training over 30 Senior Land Managers as Trainers. These trained managers include

Land Officers, Registrars, Land Surveyors, Physical Planners from the Minstry Headquartes and Ministry

Zonal Officess. The trained personel have already exercised their newly acquired tarining skills by

conducting trainings for land administration structures within the districts of Mityana and Mubende. In

addition, the project facilitated the induction of newly recruited members of District Land Boards, Area

Land Committees and Recorders. Through the induction of the District Land Boards and Area Land

Comittees, the project has facilitated the MLHUD initiate its members in their roles and responsibilities in

these structures.

3.2 Sensitization and Mobilization of Communities

It is presumed that many of the current disputes between landlords and tenants on Mailo land arise out of

lack of knowledge on the rights, restrictions and obligations of each party prescribed by the law and policy.

The five options for resolving landlord-tenant conflicts prescribed in the Uganda National Land Policy

(outlined above) and the options indicated in the Land Act are being popularized by the ILGU project in

partnership with Civil Society Organizations. Primary results provide optimism about the possibility of

ending landlord-tenant conflicts through various channels. Overall, the project aims to ensure that a total

75,000 representatives of smallholder households (tenants and landlords), including marginalized groups,

governmental and non-governmental partner organizations in Mubende and Mityana, are acquainted with

the principles of Mailo land rights, options for addressing overlapping issues and relevant provisions in the

Uganda National Land Policy. This information is disseminated to the communities using simplified means

such as community meetings/dialogues, music, dance and drama and local radio stations.

The ILGU project puts emphasis on women rights as well as the rights of marginalized groups to land, to

ensure that they are not left out during land inventory, demarcation and mapping processes.

The baseline study conducted prior to the project had generated unfavorable responses regarding rights of

women to land. The majority of the households preferred to have the property divided among the children

(44%), and mainly male children (39%) to inherit the property upon death of the husband, while only 31%

were in favor of the wife to inherit. Regarding joint titling, 64% of the male respondents and 38% of the

female respondents thought that only the husbands name should be included on the official land certificates.

Only 34% of the male respondents thought that both the husband and wife’s name should appear on the

Certificate of Occupancy or Land Inventory Protocols. The project planned for comprehensive awareness

campaigns to address the problem of lack of knowledge about the women rights to land and their potential

benefits.

3.3 Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

The land administration system in Uganda comprises of formal and informal institutions for land dispute

resolution. The project is building on these institutions to resolve new disputes that arise out of the land

inventory project. One of the challenges of land administration in Uganda is the absence of functional, low

cost alternative dispute resolution institutions for handling land cases. Absence of these institutions has

denied justice to many land rights holders, mainly women and other marginalized groups. The formal court

systems have proved to be very expensive and distant, and too bureaucratic and hence not beneficial to the

underprivileged members of society.

The project therefore promotes the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in resolving

land disputes. The advantage of ADR is that they are low cost, fast and have the potential to leave

community members in harmony. The project organized trainings of potential ADR persons such as elders,

members of civil society organizations, academic institutions, government officials and paralegals from the

project districts. The mediation teams are required to understand mediation and referral procedures as

stipulated under the law and good practice. The teams are instrumental in providing mediation services to

conflicting parties identified and referred from the pilot sub-counties of Mityana and Mubende before and

during the land inventory process.

4 LAND RIGHTS RECORDATION AND MAPPING USING FIT

FOR PURPOSE LAND ADMINISTRATION

4.1 Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration acceptability and Experience in Uganda

The Fit for Purpose (FFP) Land Administration concept is a relatively new approach to land administration

that emphasizes on minimizing costs, bureaucracy and complexity while at the same time achieve the

ultimate purpose of land administration. Fit for Purpose approaches discourage the use of very high

standards in the spatial, legal and the institutional frameworks unless the purpose justifies their use. Table

1 below summarizes the principles of FFP.

Table 1: Principles of FFP (Enemark, McLaren , & Lemmen, 2016)

Spatial framework Legal framework Institutional framework

Visible (physical) boundaries

rather than fixed boundaries.

Aerial/satellite imagery rather

than field surveys.

Accuracy relates to the purpose

rather than technical standards.

Demands for updating and

opportunities for upgrading and

ongoing improvement.

A flexible framework

designed along

administrative rather

than judicial lines.

A continuum of tenure

rather than just

individual ownership.

Flexible recordation

rather than only one

register.

Ensuring gender

equity for land and

property rights.

Good land governance

rather than bureaucratic

barriers.

Integrated institutional

framework rather than

sectorial silos.

Flexible ICT approach

rather than high-end

technology solutions.

Transparent land

information with easy and

affordable access for all.

In Uganda, some progress has been made on the adoption of FFP land administration principles. The

Institution of Surveyors of Uganda has held workshops intended to create awareness about FFP and to

stimulate debate about the benefits and role of FFP in Uganda. The Institution has continually encouraged

its members to attend local and international conferences to acquire a better understanding of FFP. The

central discussion on FFP among the land surveyors in Uganda is always about the role of professional

surveyors and the ability to precisely retrace property boundaries using FFP. Although some professional

land surveyors believe that FFP may lead to loss of business, many more are convinced that it creates more

opportunities for the profession once the entire country is covered with registered land.

The Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development has already piloted the use of FFP in the

adjudication and processing of Certificates of Customary Ownership (CCOs) and freehold titles. In Kasese

district (Western Uganda), more than 4,000 CCOs were issued using a customized version of Open Tenure,

an open source software provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The Open Tenure software has further been used in Nwoya district (Northern Uganda) where more than

3,000 CCOs have been issued on customary land. The Ministry has developed its own software for FFP

called SLAAC, named after the World Bank funded Systematic Land Adjudication and Certification

programme. The tool has been piloted in Jinja district (eastern Uganda) and Sheema district (South Western

Uganda) where more than 300 parcels been mapped. The tool is currently being used in Kabale (South –

Western Uganda) together with STDM in a Land Tenure Security project supported by GLTN. The SLAAC

tool will be used to generate more than 800,000 titles in various parts of the country under the Competitive

Enterprise Development Project (CEDP). The GIZ project for securing tenure rights of occupants on Mailo

land, described in this publication, uses CRISP software. CRISP is an Open Source software which has

been customized to accommodate the land information system model in Uganda as the SLAAC software is

not tailored for Mailo land.

The number of FFP tools for documentation of land rights is on the increase in Uganda, and has created a

need by the Ministry to establish a common standard in order to ensure that the collected data will be

compatible with the National Land Information System (NLIS). To further promote the use of FFP in

Uganda, Makerere University Department of Geomatics Land Management has introduced topics on FFP

LA and VGGTs for students graduating as Land Surveyors.

4.2 Fit-for-purpose solution for Mailo Tenure in Central Uganda

At present, the interests of the tenants on private Mailo are not captured in terms of land rights, location,

size, developments and shape. Furthermore no data on tenants’ rights is available in the land registry or the

NLIS of Uganda. In order to create the necessary information and transparency on tenants’ land use rights,

the ILGU project incorporated a component of land inventory and mapping of occupancy rights using

CRISP software. A systematic, parcel-to-parcel data capturing and data management process, involving

mandated local land management structures is being implemented in Mityana an Mubende districts.

4.2.1 Land Inventory Teams

In each village, identification and ascertainment of land rights is accomplished by a land inventory team,

which is composed of:

(1) A member of the Area Land Committee (ALC) based at the sub-county level. ALCs are mandated by

the Land Act to adjudicate land in their respective sub-counties. The Land Act does not impose any

qualifications for the position of ALC as long as an individual is more than 30 years of age and has local

knowledge of land issues. As a consequence of laxity on educational qualifications, many members of ALC

are illiterate or semi-illiterate, which poses a challenge in their capacity development to the use of

technology for documentation and mapping of land rights.

(2) A member of the village Local Council Executive, who represents the local authorities in the area. Local

Council executive members are elected by the people, mainly for mobilizing their respective villages for

development, and providing local administrative support such as presiding over minor disputes. The Local

council system extends from the village level to the District level.

(3) A Land Inventory Assistant, who the project recruited and trained to provide technical assistance to the

ALC in the use of Tablets and GNSS equipment. The Land Inventory Assistant must possess a minimum

of O level secondary education and must be a resident of the district, to ensure the buy in of the local

population. The Assistant provides back-up to the ALC given that sometimes ALC members are illiterate,

of advanced age and may not withstand harsh field conditions. The volunteer also acts as a trainer of ALC

on use of tablets over a fairly long time. The volunteer is locally recruited to specifically ensure that the

new processes could continue after the project. Figure 1 shows a GIZ official training members of Area

Land Committee and a Land Inventory Assistant.

The Land Inventory team is supported by a graduate surveyor and a cartographer who goes through the

work submitted to ensure that it meets the required standards.

Figure 1: Inventory Team being trained by an Official from GIZ (GIZ file

photo)

4.2.2 Field Procedure

Before the field team is deployed, sensitization is carried out to inform people about the exercise but also

to educate them about the benefits of the program. This is accomplished through use of pre-recorded

messages on local radios, village meetings and a car fitted with loud speakers which move around the target

villages. In Mityana and Mubende districts, sensitization work was entrusted with a civil society

organization.

To confirm that villages have been adequately sensitized, the sensitization team generates signed lists of

village members which includes both tenants and landlords. Land inventory teams do not proceed to

villages unless there is a general agreement between landlords and tenants allowing the exercise to start.

Where many members of the village embrace the project and only a few are still hesitant, the inventory

team demarcates occupancy rights only for those willing, while the sensitization team embarks on house to

house sensitization of those still hesitant. The inventory team attempts to resolve minor disputes during

demarcation. However, in case some disputes have not been resolved on-the-spot in the field, the matters

are forwarded to the dispute resolution mechanism which comprises of specially trained para-legals to

mediate. Any unresolved disputes are forwarded to Local Council Courts and other institutions mandated

to resolve disputes.

Where there are no disputes or where disputes have been resolved, the Land Inventory Team goes ahead to

capture information on the occupant as required under the law, which is followed by mapping the parcel.

Experience from accomplished work in Mityana and Mubende districts shows that under ideal conditions,

a land inventory team documents and maps up to 15 parcels of average size of 0.75- 1 acre per day.

The land inventory teams submit their data to a graduate surveyor, who downloads it directly from the

tablets. After quality control, the graduate surveyor submits the data to cartographers, who generate parcel

index maps of tenancy parcels for the entire village. The village parcel maps are displayed in the villages

for a period of 15 days for the tenants to validate the information captured.

4.2.3 Boundary Markers

The land Inventory team, in the presence of the occupant, the landlord, neighbors and other witnesses walks

around the boundary of the land while planting boundary markers. The community members are urged

during awareness raising, to plant boundary markers before the inventory team arrives. They are urged to

do this in the presence of their neighbors. They are also encouraged to plant boundary markers in the

presence of the landlord or their representatives. The

type of boundary markers agreed upon by both the

tenants and landlords are Dracaena (Luwanyi or

Omulamula in local language) (see Figure 2). The

boundary marker has very good qualities given that

it can withstand harsh climatic conditions, it does not

spread very wide and it easily sprouts when cut or

burnt. The landlords find the plant acceptable since

it does not conflict with Mailo parcel boundaries

which are marked with concrete mark stones.

Furthermore these plants are already traditionally

used in Uganda for boundary demarcations.

Figure 2: Local Boundary Marker (photo by Land Inventory Team)

4.2.4 Data, Equipment and Software

The process of capturing and management of land rights data relies on freeware software namely Cadastre

Register Inventory Saving Paper (CRISP) and QGIS. CRISP has been developed based on the Land

Administration Domain Model (party, right, and parcel). The software has been adjusted to fit to the specific

context and needs of private Mailo land in Uganda. The attributes related to the users as required under the

Uganda Land Regulations 2014 are captured in CRISP using simple tablets. The tablets are enabled with

biometric fingerprint readers and in-built cameras that allow for photographic documentation of additional

evidence to the claim to land rights in CRISP namely: thumb print, national identification card photo,

pictures of available sales agreements or allocation documents, photo of the claimant, group photos of

neighbors and witnesses as well as existing infrastructure developments on the land. These elements are

not required under the regulations but serve as additional social evidence and thus increase the credibility

of the data. Figure 3 Shows a Land Inventory Team entering data into a tablet during field work.

The parcels over which occupancy (tenants) rights are claimed are captured in CRISP on the same tablets.

These are connected via a Wi-Fi signal to GNSS receivers giving at least 0.8m accuracy combined with

star-fire enabled correction signals for the capture of spatial attributes of the parcels. There is no need for

base stations for either post processing/DGNSS or RTK correction signals. The inventory team relied on

satellite imagery for in-field plausibility checks and orientation. The latest satellite imagery for the area of

interest is downloaded and saved for use while off-line in the field.

Figure 3: Land Inventory Team uses a tablet to capture information from a family during demarcation

(Photo by Land Inventory Team)

The parcels are generated automatically in CRISP, eliminating the errors from post cartographic or map

development processes since the traverses between captured boundary points are drawn automatically.

The project issues a Land Inventory Protocol (LIP) as a first step for the tenants, which is a non-legal social

evidence of the right to land. Captured user rights data will form the basis to increase transparence over

private Mailo land and as a basis upon which the NLP options could be amicably negotiated. At a later

stage it is planned to integrate the obtained data of tenants’ parcels into the NLIS to further secure the user

rights since both registered right and occupancy right could then be viewed in the same system. The NLIS

data catalogue has been secured to ensure interoperability of the data sets.

5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

The problem of overlapping rights on Mailo Tenure has hampered land development given that both the

landlords and occupants are not able to utilize the land. By overlaying the occupancy rights mapped under

this project and the digital cadastral maps digitized under the Land Information System project in the

Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development, landlords will be able to determine what proportion

of their land is occupied by lawful or bona fide tenants. Likewise, tenants will determine how much land

they hold. This will facilitate negotiations between landlords and tenants hence operationalizing the options

prescribed in the Uganda national Land Policy.

The project will also make it possible for prospective purchasers of Mailo land to obtain information on

occupancy rights, which will make land transactions on Mailo land faster and safer. This should put to rest

the current problem of double purchases of the same piece of land.

The project does not include a component of land adjudication given that Mailo land is already surveyed.

However, given that those land institutions that are mandated to undertake land adjudication are the same

institutions that are participating in the land inventory namely the ALCs, it will not be necessary to re-

adjudicate land rights in case it becomes necessary to issue land titles or occupancy certificates, after

negotiations between landlords and tenants lead to these options.

The project will secure the land rights of tenants, more especially those of women and marginalized groups

and hence reduce the rampant evictions of tenants by Mailo owners or investors.

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