KAMPALA —The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, has re-echoed President Museveni’s advice on land fragmentation saying subdividing the pieces of land would not make economic sense to the land owner.
Nabakooba who made the remarks during the give-away of over 1000 land titles to residents in Butalejja urged the land owners to make good use of the land now that they have land titles.
“The President while here in 2019, advised the families against subdividing their land noting that the act would lead to small sized land holdings that would be hard to economically make meaning to the land owners since the land will be too small,” she said, adding that the President also advised land owners in the district to hold land together as a family.
“As a family hold the land together and use it productively to enrich yourselves. I strongly advise you not to subdivide your land because it won’t make any economic sense to you. The President has been strongly advising on this because he wants to see you economically grow.”
Nabakooba also reechoed the need to conserve wetlands in Butalejja and the entire Busoga sub-region.
“We really need to protect the environment because it plays a huge role in making our lives complete,” she said.
She added: “The Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children’s Welfare (UCOBAC) and our partners have tried to sensitise the people on how to protect the sensitive ecosystem and environment. 40% of Butalejja is up made of wetlands.
Government is also aware that parts of Busoga sub-region is made of wetlands.”
Speaking at the event, Grace Angeline Chelimo, the board chairperson at UCOBAC, said the organisation in partnership with the Ugandan government and other players have been involved in a project to help residents in the district register their customary land and receive land titles.
About 1624 residents in Butalejja received land titles with the help of UCOBAC which is implementing the project in partnership with Government.
Chelimo said the project is aimed at improving the land tenure system that benefits women, children and the youth.
She added that the organisation has focused on three sub-counties which include: Mazimasa, Kachola and Naweyo.
UCOBAC has been involved with land title registrations give away in Butalejja and other places such as Pader District where 450 land titles were given to residents in the district.
Butalejja Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Lawrence Ben Marley, revealed that land disputes are the most reported cases in the district.
Marley said some of the cause of land disputes in the district include: Polygamy which leads to fight over property in case the sole bread owner dies, absentee land lords whose caretakers end up selling over their land and the huge space taken up by the wetlands leaving a small area for people to fight for.
The Butalejja Woman Member of Parliament, Florence Nebanda, encouraged the residents to secure their land rights by ensuring that they get and keep safely their land titles.
