The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development yesterday handed over a land title to the National Leadership Institute (NALI), Kyankwanzi.
For the past 40 years, NALI, which is under the direct supervision of the Office of the President, has been operating without a title on its 21 square miles of land.
During the handover ceremony at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development- Kampala, the Secretary Office of the President, Haji Yunus Kakande thanked the Permanent secretary- Ministry of Lands, Mrs. Dorcas W. Okalany for taking an initiative and prompt action to secure the land title of NALI.
“Thank you Madam Permanent Secretary for this title because NALI had spent 40 years without it. We tried out the process but it was not easy,” he said.
“I was informed by Col. Okei Rukogota that when you went for the training, you assured him that the land title will be processed within three weeks.I want to thank you so much for this initiative you took.”
Haji Kakande further explained that the land was more than the current 21 square miles but due to lack of proper documentation, some people grabbed it and made it their own.
“We tried to fence it but also failed because it was so expensive. 15 years ago the Kyankwanzi District Land Board sat and started distributing some land to different parties saying it was their mandate,” he said.
“Now with this permanent documentation, this strategically located government land will be protected forever. Some people have been looking forward to seeing how best they can grab and share that land among themselves.”
Additionally, Haji Kakande appealed to the Lands Ministry not to stop with securing NALI land only, but it should continue to do the same for other government land.
“The government has a lot of land in Mbarara, Masindi and other parts of the country which they want to grab.Government land is easy to take because most of it is not titled,” he explained.
Haji Kakande also reminded the meeting of the core value of NALI in Uganda.
“It was a colonial prison before independence but after independence, the government wanted to turn it into a training school but plans failed because people claimed that it was going to be used to force them into labour for one year in the name of training,” he said.
“That land eventually remained there and when our President was fighting along with his group, it was an operational area for the NRA that time. After the liberation war, it was turned into a leadership Institute and many Ugandans have gone into that school.It has done a lot of work in terms of mindset change,” he added.
On her part, Mrs. Okalany revealed that she got to know that NALI had no title for its land during a recent ideological training for officials at the Ministry of Lands.
“When we got a chance to train at NALI for one week, we were warmly welcomed. During the training, I was shocked to learn that NALI had no land title. Someone could claim that land,” Mrs. Okalany stated.
“We did boundary opening, did a deed plan and now we are here with the title. We processed it in a record time. After the survey, we did it within two days,” she added.
The Permanent Secretary also expressed concern that government land is being grabbed at a high speed by land grabbers because most of it has no land title.
“We have to move very fast. Some institutions like the Ministry of Education have started working with us to process titles for government schools,” she said.
“Land grabbers are not seated, they are grabbing any open land they spot. They rush to Nasser road and make fake land titles.”
Mrs. Okalany assured her Office of the President counterpart that NALI land is now very secure since the title has already been put on the Ministry of Lands digital system whereby if someone tries to tamper with it, the system will notify the rightful owners.
“I encourage other government institutions especially those with big land like the army and police to come and secure their land,” she urged.
Col. Okei Rukogota, the Director of the NALI expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Lands and the Office of the President led by Haj Kakande for making the process of securing the land title possible.
“For four decades, NALI has existed without legal proof of ownership of more than 20 square miles it purported to own in Kyankwanzi. This has been so in spite of the strategic guidance that the land title was to be acquired as a matter of critical necessity. Now, this speaks volumes; and it is a reason why today is a day for celebration,” he said.
“When our leadership came to the helm of NALI in January 2025, the Minister for the Presidency and her PS, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda and Haji Yunus Kakande respectively, guided the Director to work to secure the certificate of title as a matter of priority. We dutifully included this assignment into our plan of action of the must accomplish projects/ tasks for our first year in office.”
Col. Rukogota, however noted that it was evident the assignment to acquire the certificate of title was to be the hardest to achieve with surveyor companies asking the institution to pay over Shs1 billion to do the job.
“To cut the long story short, it was in October, 2025 when a God-sent opportunity presented itself, when the revolutionary and patriotic spirited Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development brought her Ministry top officers for an ideological training course,” he noted.
“NALI told her that the Institute was bent on acquiring the certificate of title by all means necessary. Madam Okalany was more than ready to get us the title. Indeed she decreed that it would take a mere three weeks to get the title. As they say, the rest is history.”
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
