Following an inquiry of the Public Accounts Committee (Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises - COSASE), Parliament has called for an audit of all government-owned land which is said to be presently at risk of grabbers.
The House, while debating COSASE report on the Auditor General’s report on the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) for the Financial Year 2022/2023, observed that many government institutions occupy land but lack titles.
“A number of schools in Kampala, Jinja and elsewhere do not have land titles, they are going to lose land to grabbers because Uganda Land Commission has failed to give them titles. That is how we lost the battle for the land for Shimoni Demonstration School because it lacked titles,” said Hon. Joseph Ssewungu (NUP, Kalungu West County).
The EOC is mandated to eliminate discrimination and inequalities against any individual or group of persons
Hon. Abed Bwanika, the Kimanya-Kabonera Division Representative, said there were organised crime groups especially in Masaka City targeting government land without titles.
“In Masaka we want help; we are missing land titles and at the end of the day, you find that land is taken away fraudulently. In our recommendations, the need to audit government land should stand out,” Bwanika said.
The MPs were speaking during the plenary sitting chaired by Speaker, Anita Among on Wednesday, 02 October 2024.
Speaker Among observed that the matter at hand was grave saying that the title for land on which Parliament sits was once missing.
“At one time, the title for the Parliamentary Commission was lost. We got that land title but it was not an easy thing. If a title of Parliament can go missing what about other institutions? You are right to say government land should be audited,” said Among.
The Speaker asked the accountability committees of Parliament to routinely scrutinise asset registers of government institutions during inquiries, which indicate the number properties an institution has and the relevant details.
The COSASE report presented by the committee chairperson, Hon. Medard Lubega Sseggona, also Busiro County East Member of Parliament, noted that land belonging to EOC was missing a title and efforts to obtain a special title were futile.
“The land tittle for the entity’s premises in Bugolobi, Kampala measuring approximately 0.180 hectares was missing since 2019/2020 and there is a risk of loss of the property,” said Sseggona adding that, “the committee noted that the application for a special certificate was submitted in May 2023, but Kampala Capital City Authority [KCCA] land office has to date not issued the same”.
COSASE urged KCCA’s land office to expedite the process of issuing a special certificate of title, within one month from the date of adoption of this report.
Hon. Hassan Kirumira (NUP, Katikamu South County), was concerned with the hefty sums of money totaling to Shs2.5 billion that EOC spends annually in rent at Kingdom Kampala.
Kirumira proposed that government should move fast to refurbish the commission’s premises in Bugolobi said to be dilapidated with leaking roofs.
“If you compute this amount of money spent annually, it is a lot. I support the proposal to have the Bugolobi premises refurbished and if space is small, let it be expanded,” said Kirumira.
