Government is tomorrow expected to hold a national dialogue on compulsory land acquisition that is aimed at discussing proposals on the upcoming land reforms in Uganda.

In July 2017, the Deputy Attorney General, Mwesigwa Rukutana, tabled Constitution Amendment Bill No. 13 of 2017 to amend Article 26 of the Uganda Constitution. The Bill purportedly aimed at resolving the current problem of delayed implementation of Government infrastructure and investment projects due to disputes arising out of the compulsory land acquisition process.

It also aimed at enabling government, or a local government to deposit with court, compensation awarded by the Government for any property declared for compulsory acquisition of land and empower government to take possession of the declared property upon depositing the compensation awarded for the property with court, pending determination by the court of the disputed compensation awarded to the property owner or person having an interest in or right over the property.

The bill however received criticism saying the proposed amendment contravenes Article 24 of the Constitution because it seeks to deprive citizens of their survival and this should be construed as torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Also read:https://eagle.co.ug/2017/06/29/cabinet-endorses-compulsory-acquisition-land-infrastructure-development.html

Alluding to analysts, the amendment was also against Article 128 of the Constitution as it seeks to empower the executive to involve courts in matters that are not before it yet. It is therefore upon raising of such criticisms that the bill was withdrawn from parliament.

It wanted to force property/land owners to accept every decision of the chief government valuer (CGV) or use the CGV’s decisions on compensation as basis to deprive citizens of their property.

According to statement released by the minister of land and urban development, Betty Among, a new bill has been crafted to bring in conformity with article 26, 24 of the constitution of Uganda.

“The new bill will present a mechanism for government to access land without depriving owners, the right to prompt fair and adequate compensation. The land acquisition act needs to be reviewed,” she said in a statement adding that the dialogue will take place at Skyz hotel Naguru.

She said government is in process of developing land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation policy saying it this process will solve key issues related to land.

Among said during the dialogue, everyone will be availed with opportunity look at and discuss both the 2017 land amendment bill and land acquisition bill 2019, “land acquisition law will be reinforced by valuation law that is being drafted by government,” she added

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A civil society activist has urged government to value women’s domestic work such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, fetching fire wood and water as well as taking care of the elderly.

“We cannot attain gender parity when the majority of the women are engaged in the domestic sphere providing services that do not have economic benefit. We cannot talk about attaining Agenda 2030 or even SDGs when we are not addressing these issues of unpaid care and domestic work,” said Rita Aciro, the Executive Director, Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET).

Aciro said if women cannot get out of the domestic sphere to do economically gainful work and also participate in decision making, then they will always be left behind.

She said that unpaid care and domestic work is central to the attainment of all the development goals set at national level and international level and therefore, there is need to redistribute and reduce the burden of unpaid care and domestic work since it’s something that benefits the community, nation and world.

She was speaking hours ago in New York during the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Jane Ocaya-Irama, a Women’s Rights Advisor with OXFAM said it is important to get men and women know that the work that women do should be recongnised and valued. She said there’s need to reflect this work in terms of national statistics.

In her remarks at the event, the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, said that it is important to draw attention and advocacy on the issue and have partners in the community to champion the cause.

Kadaga explained that in the mind of an African man, the duty of a woman is to fetch water, firewood and tether the goats.

“We need to have partners in the community so that we can start a conversation about unpaid care work because if you are to go to my village and ask a man, ‘does your wife work?’ he’ll say, ‘she does not work’ but she’s the first to get up and the last to sleep. So, even the concept of what is work within the community is something we need to discuss before we can lay strategies,” Kadaga said.

The Speaker undertook to work with women parliamentarians and the Minister in charge of Sustainable Development Goals, Mary Karooro Okurut, to raise consciousness about the issue until it becomes a government policy.

International and civil society organisations meeting at the sidelines of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations headquarters in New York, which is taking place from 11th -22nd March 2019, have proposed that government puts in place policies and programmes including legislation to address unpaid care work.

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A new initiative by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) the global accountancy body, has highlighted 10 key drivers that are already changing business processes, people and services.

The report also addresses how the finance function within those businesses will need to prepare and adapt to meet transformative challenges.

Thomas Isibor, head of ACCA Nigeria said: ‘Few sectors are going to experience the impact of new tech more than Finance and Accountancy.”

‘Preparing now for the inevitability of change is even more vital for these functions, and forward-thinking should be every business’ strategic priority.

Mr Isibor continued: ‘Challenges such as digital, risk, the global economy, politics, legislation, cyber security, ethics, even climate change – are all set to impact business and the Finance department in potentially unimagined ways.’

Technology – more than just Automation and AI – is already creating the most seismic impact on the Finance, Audit and Accountancy functions. The industry is in a race for future relevance.

The ACCA has identified four broad imperatives for any CFO or partner looking to optimise how technology can add – and not detract – value from their organisation: To understand how to use the information available to them to provide strategic insight in real time; to think forwards not backwards and maximise the use of technology to do this; to ensure they have in place effective and efficient processes that satisfy the overall business requirements of finance, and to capture, measure, report and predict future performance in a much more agile manner to support better and quicker decision making.

Mr Isibor added: “Preparation and readiness now is key,’ ‘No technology has ever made an impact without first being adopted by people. The sooner we recast this challenge as one of people and processes, the sooner we’ll make progress. We have to be ready for what lies ahead.”

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