Land Governance in Uganda: Large scale Land Acquisition and Land Expropriation

1. Land Governance in Uganda: Large scale Land Acquisition and Land Expropriation Mugyenyi Onesmus Policy Analyst Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment 22th Sept,2011

2. Introduction • Land forms the basis for social, political and economic life of most African countries including Uganda. • Land issues are therefore sensitive, demanding careful management to avoid social and political conflicts. • Good land governance is therefore critical for addressing the current socio-economic challenges.

3. Land Governance defined • Land Governance is the process by which decisions are made regarding the access to and use of land, the manner in which those decisions are implemented and the way the conflicting interests in land are reconciled. It is involves the functioning of policy, legal/ regulatory and institutional frameworks. • Key elements embedded in the definition • Focus on decision making, implementation and conflict resolution. • Emphasis on both process and outcomes. • Recognition of both informal and formal institutions involved in land management. • Analysis of stakeholders, interests, incentives, and constraints.

4. Some of the key land governance issues • Land policy and land policy processes. • State lands and customary lands management. • Slum upgrading and informal settlements. • Land use planning • Land conflict resolution. • Land reform and land administration. • Expropriation, land grabbing, large scale land acquisitions and compensation. • Access to land in post disaster or post conflict situations • Gender and inheritance rights.

5. Principles of good land governance • Security- security of tenure, no forced evictions, land and property rights recognised sensitivity to conflict and disasters. • Sustainability- Land use balances social ,economic and environmental needs, land administrations systems are affordable, accessible to all, can be maintained and up-dated over time • Equity- Pro-poor, gender sensitive, arrange of land rights recognised. • Effectiveness and efficiency-Simplified rules and procedures, service oriented, land administration • Rule of law- Respect for legal procedures, involvement of both traditional and alternative dispute resolution.

6. Principles of good land governance… • Transparency- Access to information regarding rules and procedures, openness and involving policy making and decision making processes, openness of procurement. • Accountability- Mechanisms that avoid corruption • Civil engagement- Dialogue and consensus building orientation, actively facilitating participation of all groups • Subsidiarity- decentralisation of decision making and management, addressing capacity needs.

7. Large scale acquisitions/land grabbing and appropriation • Land grab refers to the purchase of a lease or vast tracts of land by the wealthier. This could be by food insecure nations looking for land to grow food for their citizens or individuals driven by investment opportunities. Land grabbing involves active role by domestic elites, government bureaucrats, family members and clan heads who assume power and misuse it to get land from vulnerable groups. • In the context of Uganda Land grabbing can be defined as acquisition of land by public private enterprise or individual in a manner that is illegal, fraudulent or unfair taking advantage of existing power differences, corruption and breakdown of law and order in society.

8. International land deals negotiated in Uganda Land deal proposals to Uganda government according to different screening sources. Source GLP Report (2010) Source GLP Report (2010)

9. Large scale land acquisition and land governance issues • Disconnect between the legislation protecting customary land rights, government large scale acquisition and the processes of actual land acquisition. • Types and duration of land rights afforded to investors-leasehold/freehold and the renewability of these rights • Provisions to protect customary rights. • Initiatives to guide land allocation-identification of suitable land /available land for particular types of uses. • Consultation mechanism for customary land users. • Mechanism for monitoring social impacts. • Compensation mechanisms.

10. Impacts of large scale land acquisition on recipient governments • Local communities loose access to their traditional land for grazing and growing food and become more vulnerable to food insecurity. • Frustration of out growers and contract farmers-the promised benefits never come true. • Competition for land to grow non food crops- sugarcane, biofuels, palm trees can affect food production resulting into an increase in prices. • Depletion of water and water scarcity-biofuels have been described as one of the most “thirsty” products on the planet because of the amount of water they need to produce fuel. Large scale irrigation can affect the water flow and other users.

11. Impacts of large scale land acquisition on host governments… • Environmental degradation • mono-cropping reduces diversity of flora and fauna, agro-biodiversity and carbon stocks both above ground and underground. • Clearing huge chunks of land lead to a lot of deforestation and use of pesticides pollute water sources.

12. What can be done • The policy framework should lay down the principles that will govern large scale land acquisition and appropriation. • The policy should take care of the 2009 African Union draft framework and guidelines for land policy in Africa.