Corruption and fraud have been cited as causes of rampant illegal acquisition of Land titles in Government Forest Reserves within central and local forest reserves in Uganda. The observations were made during the launch of a report on the illegal land titles by the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU) at Hotel Africana on Thursday.
Mr. Geoffrey Stephene Bazira, the ACCU Head of Finance and Administration, said the fight against corruption among Government officials in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, who issue land titles, plus those at the National Forestry Authority (NFA), who connive with fraudulent individuals to steal Government Forest land is an involvement of every citizen.
“So, fighting corruption at all levels should not be left to specific organizations but a collective duty of everyone”, he said.
He said the 2024 ACCU Report on land encroachers on Forest Reserves was observed in the Districts of Wakiso, Mpigi, Kayunga, Kikuube, Buhweju, Mitooma, Bushenyi, Rubirizi and Hoima.
Mr. Harold Tumwine Bamwoya, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Fact Markets Transformation manager, said their organization is committed to support Natural resources governance, which includes natural Reserve Forests and Wildlife. He said lack of accountability and transparency among state and non- state actors are causes of land degradation.
He hailed Government efforts towards the fight to reduce land encroachment in forest reserves and the apprehension and prosecution of corrupt public officials.
Mr. Edward Ssenyonjo, National Forestry Authority Coordinator Inventory and Surveys Director, reported of widespread encroachment of Forest Reserves by individuals whom he said are “well connected” and fraudulently acquire land titles in the said forest reserves fraudulently. He said when NFA intervenes to cancel the said land titles from the Ministry of Lands, the fraudsters quickly sell off their pieces of land and acquire new titles in different names, thereby making the process of fighting the vice very difficult.
In Defence of the Lands Ministry, Mr. Denis Obbo, the Ministry Spokesperson, said individuals engaged in fraudulent land titles acquisition tend to involve third parties such as Commercial Banks, where they obtain loans using illegally acquired land titles, thereby making it difficult to cancel such titles with a long legal binding chain.
He however, advised Ugandans to use the current Ministry of Lands online land information search portal www.ugnlis.mlhud.ug to ascertain if the land titles are genuine before parting with their hard earned money to buy any piece of land.
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