The Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, has cautioned the public against presenting forged documents to fraudulently make land transactions.

Nabakooba issued the warning on November 11, 2024, while addressing a two-day National Land Policy consultative meeting for Buganda region held at Ridar Hotel in Mukono.

“I have been told six out of eight letters of administration presented seeking permission to conduct boundary openings are fake. If they continue to do so, apprehend them and take them to court over forgery,” she directed.

In the workshop that was attended by representatives from nine central districts, it was observed that the most forgery cases are on the letters of administration.

Nabakooba noted that if such cases are not handled with care, they would cause a lot of problems in the land sector, stressing the potential to fuel land conflicts.

She noted that similar issues have been arising in different parts of the country, with more than one person seeking boundary opening on the same land. In Wakiso district’s Bussi Island, for example, locals were up in arms over different landlords coming up for the same exercise.

“Do not sugarcoat such cases because they are very serious. Forgery is a criminal case chargeable in courts of law,” she noted.

Representatives of the public in the first Buganda consultative meeting came from Mukono, Buvuma, Kayunga, Kampala, Wakiso, Luwero, Nakaseke, Buikwe, and Nakasongola. The second meeting will be held in Masaka city.

The minister noted that this revised National Land Policy will address pressing land issues to ensure they are resolved. She added that the issues are multiple overlapping conflicting interests on the same piece of land, absentee landlords who claim ownership based on outdated succession registers.

Additionally, Nabakooba highlighted climate challenges and continuous illegal land evictions as causing tenure insecurity in the region.

She asked the pioneers of the National Land Policy 2013 review led by Naomi Kabanda, the Acting Commissioner of Land Administration, to ensure that the policy serves people’s best interests, fosters economic growth, and protects our natural resources.

The Ministry of Lands is currently undertaking regional meetings to review the National Land Policy, which has been in existence since 2013.

Nabakooba said that the review process is aimed at leveraging land as a major resource that can contribute to economic development. She noted that the key element of the National Land Policy 2024 is tenure security. She wants the policy to address land rights for both tenants and landlords.

At the same meeting, the minister also cautioned district land boards against giving out government land, noting that it is likely to incur them losses.

“Government needs land, but we realized most of the government land has been allocated by district land boards, and once people get titles, they use it forever,” she said.

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She added, “We are running out of land, and it will be very difficult for us to get back that land. I have seen people who get freehold titles, and they are now demanding compensation. You see the confusion that you are causing; where are we going to get that land?” she asked.

The revelation came after a land official from the Mukono Ministry Zonal Office told the minister that they have land located at Block 542 in Buikwe district, where the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) owns the land with the title and Buikwe District Local Government has a lease of 99 years on the same land.

The ministry has been issuing titles, but the exercise was recently halted to critically resolve the matter. Now officials at MZO are worried that public outcry is going to be so much.