LIRA – The traditional /customary land tenure system and domestic violence have been identified as key drivers of the increasing land disputes in Lango Sub-region.
This was pronounced yesterday during the launch of the 7th National Land Awareness Week 2023 at Mayor’s Garden in Lira City under the theme, “Providing Land Rights Information for Enhanced Production and Sustainable Development”.
Lango Sub-region mainly has a customary land tenure system where pieces of land mostly belong to communities or clans, even though some individuals in the area own private land.
David Keneddy Odongo, the LC5 chairperson of Alebtong district who doubles as the chairperson of all the district LCV chairpersons in Lango Sub-region said land issues in the region are contributing to underdevelopment as most people have no proofs of customary land ownership and cannot be helped in courts of law.
“When you check court records, you will find that most of the people involved in land conflicts have no proof for ownership. In most cases, such court case are amalgamated with other cases like criminal trespass, which may not sort out the real issues that lead people to continue fighting over time,” Odongo said.
Joe Olang Erik, the second deputy prime minister of Lango Cultural Foundation blamed men for the increase in the land wrangles in Lango Sub-region, saying it is putting the future of children at stake.
“Land wrangles are majorly caused by men who always run and leave their wives with children suffering. So, women should protect the land for future use,” Olang said.
Meanwhile, Lucy Philiphs Okidi, the secretary of Lira Cathedral Parish said some families in the area have been divided because of land wrangles which usually happen when wives are widowed.
She appealed to the Lands ministry the Ministry to sensitise masses at the grassroots so that they can have chances of owning their pieces of land.
“The thing dividing most of the families is land wrangles. Most time when we are left as widows, we are deprived, underlooked by the rest of the marital families. We are not given rights to own the land,” Okidi said.
Tom Onyuti, a resident of Lira City West Division said some land conflicts in families are caused by adopted children who want to have equal rights of land ownership like the rest of the family members.
“People who have been adopted into the families who own customary lands want to have the same rights to own the pieces of land during allocations and this is bringing confusion and wrangles,” Onyuti said.
Grace Odyek, a resident of Lira City is worried that her small piece of land she bought may be taken away from her forever, saying someone has claimed it, and cut down the trees she had planted on it.
“I bought my small piece of land in Lira here in 2014 and I planted some trees along the boundaries. Someone cut the trees down and is claiming that the land is his. I don’t know what to do now,” Odyek said.
Salama Godfrey Ngobi, a registrar at Lira High Court said they are overwhelmed by a number of land related issues which may need another circuit judge if they are to be dispensed quickly.
“There is a great problem of land justices in this region and country as a whole, and because of the pressure on land, the conflicts are increasing and when they increase, we feel the pressure at court and this is calling for another circuit judge to address the matter,” Ngobi said.
Ngobi said most of the court issues and cases that they handle result from boundary wrangles and greed among the communities.
“The boundaries are a problem, and this is as a result of the war that affected us so much. Greed among some people in Lango is increasing a number of cases in our courts. People come up with cases that you can see are emanating from greed. Also, the breakdown in the cultural set up is a contributing factor to the land disputes in the region,” Ngobi said.
He appealed to both the cultural and religious institutions to help address the matter of land wrangles among the people they serve.
“We hope something is done to strengthen the cultural institutions so that they can take on the mantle that will enable us to reduce such land disputes and religious institutions, please bring us back to our moral standards that are pinned to the people who fear God,” he said.
The acting commissioner of land administration at the Ministry of Lands ministry, Abdu Nassar Olekwa attributed land disputes in the country to the structure of the clan systems, both family and succession disputes, saying it has caused many women and children to suffer.
“Most of them are clan, family disputes, succession disputes where people unfortunately pass away without living wills. When husbands die, they leave the land in the hands of the widows who cannot protected it from the husbands’ family members,” Olekwa said.
He said that they want to increase the ownership of land by women in Uganda and sensitise all the masses on how to settle land disputes, protect their land, and rights.
“We are intentional on protecting a particular group of people that is to say women because they are the cornerstone of homes and therefore their ownership right is very important to us since 70 percent of the land in Uganda is supposed to be used by women but only 15 percent of them own it. We want to make sure that women exercise their rights to own land,” he said.
Olekwa further said that the Lands ministry will collaborate with both the local governments and cultural institutions to ensure land disputes are solved amicably.
“We also want to partner with the cultural and traditional institutions so that we are able to solve land disputes peacefully since most of the land disputes are emanating from families,” he said.
At the moment, Olekwa said, the percentage of the registered land in Uganda is at 22 percent and that most of the land has been secured in the last 13 years with the establishment of land information system.
https://thecooperator.news/land-conflict-over-600-face-eviction-in-gulu-city/
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