Atleast 350 land titles that were illegally issued within wetlands are to be cancelled and the ‘owners’ apprehended, the Minister of State Lands, Housing and Urban Development Hon. Persis Namuganza has said. This follows an investigation conducted by an inter ministerial committee chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda which discovered that the issuance of the said titles was illegal given their location in protected areas.
Minister Namuganza said at a stakeholder engagement on the state of forests in Uganda on Friday that she had already ordered the responsible bodies to issue notice of cancellation to the affected persons.
“We are in the process of cancelling 350 titles that were issued for land situated in wetlands because that is against the law,” the Minister said.
“I have written to the technical team and forwarded them a list of 350 titles to issue for notice of cancellation as the law stipulates. The titles will be cancelled within 21 days.”
Areas within which the said wetlands are situated include; Kinawataka, Bugolobi, Ntinda, Bukoto, Lower and Upper Kansanga, Bulenga and Nansana.
Despite the fact that some of this land has already been developed, Namuganza said the structures will be demolished since their impact on environment is incomparable.
“Some of the affected owners to these titles are influential people but that won’t stop us. We have to carry out our mandate and stop this illegality,” she later told journalists.
“The same applies to the developments on this land. The land law stipulates that if you don’t own land, whatever is on it isn’t yours. So whether you have a bungalow, it will be demolished because the magnitude of its negative impact on the environment has no price.”
Once the cancellation is done, she said the officers responsible for issuing these titles will be brought to book.
The Minister faulted National Forestry Authority (NFA) for neglecting its mandate to alert other government bodies on such illegalities despite the resources at its disposal including maps.