KAMPALA: The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has said President Museveni’s plans to abolish Mailo land tenure system as well as declare Buganda Land Board illegal could be a trigger of national insecurity.
According to FDC, the President is employing populist measures to resolve land conflicts in the country, which could breed further conflict.
“His latest aggressive and unrelenting attack on the country’s land tenure system is causing unnecessary tension and insecurity. He should forthwith stop politicizing land problems in the country,” Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the FDC spokesperson, said at a press conference in Kampala on Monday, 15 November 2021.
In an 18-page “mobilisation” missive dated November 8 to all Central Executive Committee(CEC) members of the ruling NRM party, President Museveni tasked them to “identify the legitimate interests of the different groups of people” which he says is the crux of mobilisation.
He said that leases were for the educated sometimes foreign, commercial producers, using land and cannot be for the Ugandans who have their homes (obutuuro) and graves of their ancestors on those lands.
“Resist land evictions for Bibanja owners and work for the emancipation of the Bibanja owners and compensation of the exploitative Mailo owner. Resist all schemes of okutemako (cut pieces from) of the Bibanja owners’ land or kyaapa mungalo (“leases” given by the illegal Buganda Land Board),” he wrote on November 8, 2021.
But FDC said the content of the President’s recent letter to the NRM leaders should be ignored “because it is a recipe for violence and will drive the population into breaking the law.”
“Even if you confiscate land from the Kabaka of Buganda and all mailo land owners like the Church and redistributed it, tension and conflicts will remain because of the sheer size of the population. The country’s fertility rate at 5.8% (number of births per woman) remains one of the highest in the world,” Mr Ssemujju said.
“Museveni alone occupies eight villages in Gomba for his Kisozi ranch, miles of land he didn’t have 30 years ago. Museveni should act as an example of his land policy by subdividing his Kisozi and Rwakitura miles of land and distribute it to the landless,” he added.
He explained that the solution to our land problems is partly industrialisation and growth of service and other sectors.
“Museveni should be embarrassed to rule a country for 35 years and 68% of its population remain in subsistence farming,” he added.
President Museveni’s November 8 statement echoed that those of junior Lands minister, Mr Sam Mayanja, who on October 7 said that Buganda Land Board (BLB) is an illegal entity.
Mr Museveni’s appointment of Mr Mayanja who opposes the Mengo establishment and the Mailo land tenure was seen as a rebuke to the kingdom.