Government, according to the minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Betty Amongi, has lost over $97 million to contractors due to delays accentuated by disputes over land compensations.
Speaking to reporters at the Uganda Media Center yesterday, Amongi said government can’t keep looking on as public infrastructure projects stall and taxpayers’ money lost.
She said compulsory land acquisition is not new in Uganda. She said compulsory land acquisition is provided for by the Land Acquisition Act 1965, (Cap 226) and the 1995 Constitution Article 26.
“The provisions in the Land Acquisition Act have facilitated government to compulsorily acquire land smoothly until a critical provision under section 7 was expunged by both the Constitutional and Supreme court in 2014. This provision gave the minister of Lands, after an award of compensation value has been made by an assessor, to take possession at any time after the publication of the declaration if the minister certifies that it is in the public interest for him or her to do so,” Amongi said.
In 2011, government commissioned a project to upgrade the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road, leading to the oil fields in the Albertine graben. Acting under the Land Acquisition Act, the Uganda National Roads Authority took over the land to undertake the project before payment of compensation to the owners.
Some people rejected the compensation value. Through Irumba Asumani and Peter Magelah, the aggrieved land owners challenged the constitutionality of the Land Acquisition Act that allowed government to compulsorily acquire land before compensation.
They said the acquisition ran counter to provisions of Article 26(2) that provide for prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation prior to the taking of possession or acquisition of any person’s property.
Both the Constitutional and Supreme courts ruled in favor of the petitioners; hence according to Amongi, that necessitated a constitutional amendment to cure the defect created by the ruling. Amongi also disputed suggestions that poor people who normally have no access to the judicial system are going to suffer more because their properties will be undervalued.
“In our experience in land acquisition, majority of the people they say can’t access court are genuine people who will give land, accept the money determined by the chief government valuer and relocate,” Amongi said.
Asked why government can’t wait for the omnibus Constitution Amendment bill to amend article 26, Amongi said the process takes a long time.
“With what we are facing now, we cannot wait for the omnibus constructional amendment bill to address the critical needs for government to deliver public goods. The five-year plan for government in terms of moving into the middle-income status cannot be achieved without infrastructure, without electricity, without oil,” Amongi said.
On why the bill is silent on the time frame in which disputes must be resolved, Amongi said it’s impossible to put everything in the Constitution. The proposed amendment has met a lot of resistance from across the political, religious and cultural divide with some terming it as a ploy to legalize land grabbing.
Speaking to lukiiko members on Monday, Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga said the Buganda kingdom doesn’t oppose infrastructural development since the country badly needs them. However, he called for a special court to be instituted to ensure that land compensation cases are dealt with expeditiously at least within 90 days.
