The government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, is set to register and issue land titles and customary certificates of ownership on land belonging to the Church of Uganda (CoU).

The Minister of Lands, Judith Nabakooba, confirmed the development on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, while presiding over a three-day retreat of 40 bishops from the 39 dioceses that make up the CoU, led by the Archbishop of the CoU, Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu, at Lweza Training and Conference Centre in Wakiso District.

The minister tasked the church with creating a team that will work with a task force from the ministry to identify all land without titles from different dioceses across the country.

“I have briefed my permanent secretary and the technical team, and I think that this is the time to help churches register their land. We request that you regularly update and make annual returns for those trustees,” Minister Nabakooba said.

“Archbishop, I would request that you give me a team from your side, and I will also get a technical team to help work with your people to see how they can have the land registered,” Nabakooba added.

She also asked the House of Bishops to make use of the zonal land officers in their regions to handle their land matters.

“Each district has a district staff surveyor, and the ministry’s zonal offices have a senior staff surveyor and a principal staff surveyor,” she advised.

The minister emphasized the issue of trustees and asked the church to ensure that at least some land is under the name of the registered trustee, in the belief that if the land is registered with a trustee, it can be protected for generations.

She referred to the issue regarding the Ndeeba Anglican church, which was demolished by goons over land issues, saying that it was in good faith, but the family started making other allegations, yet the church had been there for years.

“We have seen instances where people register land in their names as individuals, and it is church land. The people who do this might have clean intentions, but when they are no more, their family can claim that property,” she said.

The minister also told the team that the churches should register all their bona fide and lawful occupants to enable them to deal with the rampant land grabbing and fraud.

“Register bibanja holders to avoid other squatters from flooding the land because, without a register, a loophole is created for squatters to also settle on the land and claim they have been there for 30 years. If such claims are put forward, it is very difficult to defend them,” Minister Nabakooba stressed.

This followed Kazimba Mugalu’s plea, saying that the Anglican Church has been a victim of land grabbers because some of the land does not have titles.

“Some of those who generously donated land did it in good spirit without titles or agreements,” Archbishop Mugalu said.

He reminded the government of the pledge made four years ago to have the issue of Ndeeba Church resolved and their church rebuilt.

He added that the church is happy that the government intervened on the Ndeeba issue, but it has yet to fulfill the pledge made by the president to ensure that the so-called claimants are compensated and they work on the logistics to have the church rebuilt.