The issuance of CCOs in Ibuje Sub-county, Apac district has eased other economic activities like farming. Photo by Arnest Tumwesige
By Simon Eluk
Apac: When Lawrence Omo heeded President Yoweri Museveni’s call to have his land registered for a Certificate of Customary Ownership (CCO), his neighbors warned him that the government would grab his land.
But since Omo was already fighting over his land boundary with a neighbor, he decided to take his chances and now says, “It is only those who don’t have the certificate who are still engaged in the fight over land…”
In 2020, the government, under the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Durban Development, with support from the European Union the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and CADASTA Foundation, launched a pilot project to document customary land and issue a certificate as stipulated by the 1995 Constitution and the Land Act.
In October 2022 President Yoweri Museveni, launched the registration and issuance of CCO at Ibuje Primary School in Apac District on a pilot scheme. The government said the registration is purposed to stop the locals from losing their land to grabbers.
Omo, a resident of Agoga Village, Alworoceng Parish in Ibuje sub-county, disclosed that when the president launched the project, several people perceived that it was the government’s ploy to grab people’s land.
“Since then, I have waited in vain and nobody has come to take away my land,” said Omo, who registered all his 20 acres under the program.
Thousands acquire CCOs
Information from Ibuje Sub-county indicates that more than 5,000 land owners in the Ibuje Sub-county have acquired CCOs, according to Bonnie Oringa, the sub-county chief.
Oringa disclosed that the issuance of the CCOs has played a big role in reducing land wrangles within the community because the beneficiaries now know their land boundaries and can’t be tempted to intrude.
According to Oringa, before the land registration project, an estimated 90% of the cases that were registered at the sub-county were related to land disputes.
Oringa estimates that at least 20 cases of land disputes were registered monthly before the project, but now only between three to five cases are registered a month.
The reduction in the land wrangles has brought peace and rendered the sub-county court redundant, according to Oringa.
“Honestly, my area land committee last month didn’t meet because there were no cases [of land wrangles].”
Judith Nabakooba, the Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, said at least 1,537 land titles and 6,393 certificates to beneficiaries of the project in Apac, Agago, and Maracha districts
While delivering 1,017 CCOs to land owners in Kalongo Town Council in Agago district in January, Nabakooba disclosed that the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development intended to issue 275,000 CCOs to land owners in northern Uganda including families, clans and indigenous communities by 2026.
The land registration is expected to be rolled out to 35 districts countrywide.
Eunice Apio, the District Land Officer, called upon landowners who have not registered their land to do so, to legalize their land, and later the title to acquire bank loans if they are interested.
Gov’t implored to injects more resources
George Abdul, the Resident District Commissioner of Apac district suggested that the government should scale up the project so that it is extended to all the sub-counties in Apac district to completely eradicate land conflicts.
Abdul claimed that the rampant cases of land wrangles were increasing other crimes such as suicide and murder in the area.
He appealed to the government to allocate money so that all individual land are registered.
“It would eliminate issues of land wrangles and also reduce deaths related to issues of land,” Abdul said.
