Gov’t halts land evictions during COVID-19 lockdown

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Lands has halted all kinds of land evictions during the time when the country is on lockdown. This is parts of the interim land management guidelines issued by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to protect the rights and obligations of both the landlords and tenants on registered land in the country.

The intervention comes at the backdrop of complaints mostly by tenants filed from different parts of the country with the most recent incident occurring at Bukompe village in Kassanda district where city businessman Abid Alam’s men forcefully destroyed homes and plantations in a bid to evict settlers. The matter has since been taken over by the Statehouse Anti-Corruption Unit.

Lands Minister Beti Kamya says that the government has been informed of impending or threatened illegal land evictions of tenants on registered land and customary landowners on unregistered land in Kiryandongo, Hoima, Mubende, Mityana, Kassanda, Wakiso, Luwero, Nakaseke, Nakasongola, Masaka, Mayuge, Napak, Kotido, Abim, Mukono, Kayunga, Wakiso, Kaberamaido, Bunyangabu, Kampala, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi and Mbale.

Kamya says that no tenant will be evicted during the lockdown period. Her pronouncement makes any form of impending or threatened land eviction of tenants on registered land and customary landowners on unregistered land in the country illegal.

“…Government receives reports of impending illegal land evictions at a time when citizens are supposed to be implementing a Presidential directive of staying at home to save their lives from COVID-19, evictions -whether lawful or unlawful – have become unacceptable action to take place in the country,” the minister’s statement dated April 16 reads in part.

She further directs Resident District Commissioners-RDCs to suspend the implementation of eviction orders. “Any forceful engagements and impending evictions should be reported to the Police and other law enforcement agencies as soon as possible to avert.”

Kamya has also suspended land-sharing engagements and collection of annual nominal ground rent by landlords or their representatives arguing whoever forcefully asks for the same must be reported to the police immediately.

Kamya stresses that where a landlord chooses to sell land to a different person other than the tenants, the rights of the existing tenants shall not be affected in any way.

Denis Obbo, the Ministry of land spokesperson, says that in the meantime, even the Ministerial zonal offices and Land Registries will be closed.

“The Land Information System (LIS) and registries have been closed just to ensure that no land services will be availed to landowners or agents as no transactions. Life comes first and after this crisis, we will reopen with a plan to fast-track what we left behind and what will be coming forward,” says Obbo.

In the same development, Uganda Revenue Authority has decried the effects covid-19 to revenue from land and real estate sector as it is among others which have been hit hard given the fact that Ministerial zonal offices and Land Registries have remained closed making impossible to make transactions.

Dickens Kateshumbwa, the Commissioner Domestic Taxes at URA shares that most of the projections that had been made are certainly defied and currently URA is trying to find up how much revenue from land translation is being lost in this period.

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