By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has confirmed that a total of 1,900 families in Amolatar district have received certificates of customary ownership for their land in a move intended to curb illegal eviction and land disputes in the area.
This was confirmed by Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Francis Okello Rwotlonyo, who represented the Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Hon. Judith Nabakoobawho on April 16, 2024 noting that the legal documentation was handed over to the residents of Amolatar to secure family and community land.
“I congratulate those people who have received their certificates,” Rwotlonyo said.
He assured the customary land owners of government’s support for land registration initiatives without introducing self-financing approaches that might exclude vulnerable groups.
Rwotlonyo said the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government is implementing an initiative to register customary land and issue certificates of customary ownership in the Lango region, extending to districts such as Apac, Oyam, Lira, and Dokolo.
He thanked the GIZ “Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU)” project for supporting Uganda in rolling out the registration process in two sub-counties of Muntu and Agwingiri.
”I want to thank GIZ RELAPU project, our esteemed implementing partners for supporting Government to roll out the registration programmes at this critical time when there is a great demand from the citizens from northern Uganda to register their customary land and acquire legal documentation on ownership” he said.
Rwotlonyo revealed that under the NRM party manifesto, the Government pledged to provide customary land owners with documents confirming ownership, thereby securing customary ownership rights and any Parish Development Model (PDM) investments nationwide.
He specifically acknowledged the customary land owners of Muntu and Agwingiri sub-counties for accepting the Government programme, which aimed to prevent land grabbing and disputes.
Rwotlonyo re-affirmed government’s commitment to meeting the costs of processing the customary titles within the next two years with support from the World Bank and the European Union in Uganda.
He emphasized that registering customary land would transition people from subsistence to a market economy, enabling them to create wealth and alleviate poverty through PDM programs.
The President launched the PDM programme in February 2022. The PDM is a government multi-sectoral strategy to reduce poverty, by moving 39% of households (i.e., 3.5 million households or 16.1 million Ugandans) under subsistence economy (living hand-to-mouth), into the money economy.
Rwotlonyo urged more families and clans to embrace the Government intervention as the key to ending land conflicts in the post-PDM period.
