Land commission winds up business

The Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters which officially closed business this week, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, has revealed that the land question will never be solved making Uganda land problems to take another dimension.

She made the revelation at the official closure of the business on Friday in Kampala while briefing the media on the findings and the report that will be given to the appointing authority.

She said the land question in Uganda remain unanswered citing some anomalies in the land ownership and management in Uganda but the problem seems to date back to the 1900 Buganda agreement.

“This is an end to the operation of this commission which has lasted over 30 months and as you all know, the land question in Uganda remains unanswered,"she said.

The commission was instituted by President Museveni on December 8 2016 to investigate a wide range of land disputes in the country.

Bamugemereire justified their work noting that the commission has saved the government over Shs 1 trillion  in bogus compensation claims over various land disputes.

“We have been able to save the government of Uganda over Shs 1 trillion shillings in irregular payments,"she said.

She said Shs 100 billion which was due for payment to clear Isimba dam was halted.

She said the commission also blocked payment for Shs 40 billion for land titles at Nakivubo, Kinawataka, Namanve Nambigirwa wetlands among others.

“50% of these complaints have been in the areas of land grabbing and land evictions and also touched upon the areas of corruption and fraudulent practices,"she said.

She also revealed that during the course of their work, she received a lot of threats from powerful individuals whose names were withheld.