The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Betty Amongi has introduced a lands management system adopted by her ministry for Ugandans living in the Diaspora.
Addressing the land and housing forum at the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) Convention on Saturday, September 2, 2017 in Miami, Florida, minister Amongi said the new system that includes an upgraded record keeping system of land titles, is aimed at minimizing land grabbing and any fraudulent related land dealings.
“We know you have issues related to purchasing genuine land, some of you have been cheated or given bad deals on land. We are working on verifying the right real estate dealers,” she said adding “We are establishing for you a Diaspora Desk in the Ministry on any land issues, whether buying property including verification of land.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Dorcas Okalany echoed the Minister’s statements, noting that in a country where only 18 percent of land owners have registered title or certificate and with most land holders not having documentary evidence of their property rights, an integrated lands management system is key.
“The land information system is meant to digitize land that has been titled. This helps in minimizing fraudulent land deals. The process of digitizing all land in Uganda will go on until 2019,” Okalany noted.
She added that they have provided a systematic land demarcation system where land can be owned communally or through clans. Okalany said that the land around the country is going to be separated into regions referred to as zones.
Present at the meeting were the Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa, who represented the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda; the Minister of Public Service Wilson Muruli Mukasa, the Minister for Presidency Esther Mbayo, the Minister for Kampala Beti Kamya and the Minister of State for Internal Affairs Obiga Kania.
