LIRA – The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba has cautioned unscrupulous people against illegal land evictions, saying those involved will face the wrath of the law.
The minister said on Friday at Mayor’s Garden in Lira City that despite the presence of land administration policies and regulatory framework, illegal land evictions continue to happen in the country, violating people’s rights.
In her message read by Kole district woman Member of Parliament, Judith Alyek during the closure of the 7th National Land Awareness Week held in Lango Sub-region, Nabakooba noted that most land evictions and conflicts are common in areas where customary tenure system exists.
The National Land Awareness Week was held from August 28 to September 2, under the theme; “Promoting land rights information and inclusion for enhanced production and sustainable development”.
According to Moses Onen, the programme officer Participatory Ecological Land Use Management [PELUM] Association described this year’s Land Awareness Week as successful because they were able to hold 84 community sensitisation and lab meetings in sub-counties including town councils.
He said out of the meetings in the seven districts, it was attended by 4,089 people and 1,287 were women.
Nabakooba said whereas the customary land is owned in Lango Sub-region, most customary land owners don’t have the necessary legal documentation as proof to show that they own the land as stipulated in the Land Act.
“This means therefore that the communities of Lango Sub-region ought to embrace the idea of securing their land rights by acquiring customary titles or certificates,” she said.
She added that even the traditional institutions that claim to own and manage land on behalf of the communities they represent are not registered as legal entities.
The minister said government in partnership with stakeholders has the responsibility of protecting all people from unscrupulous individuals involved in land grabbing.
She added the national land awareness arrangement is intended to help government to solicit ideas, views, input, contribution of various stakeholders in ensuring proper land administration and management in view of land service delivery.
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