Happy New Year to all our readers.
In the greater continuum of time a year is but a moment but
for us living through it has far reaching repercussions for us.
There are things we did or things we omitted to do; there is
the route we took or did not take when came to the fork in the road in our
journey; Things we said or did not say. All of them but moments in our lives
but whose consequences will live with us and generations to come long into the
future.
"There is a lot to say about 2018 but I think the key issue that is going to lay a basis for 2019 and beyond is our attempt to resolve the frustrations around land in this country...
The land probe led Justice Catherine Bamugemeirere has been
wading through the chaos of our land situation in this country. They have
uncovered fraud and victimisation the total picture of which most of us have
been unaware.
To state the obvious the land issue and its speedy and
judicious resolution is key to our development ambitions.
It is a challenge enough that we do not have one uniform
land tenure system across the country. To begin with most land around the
country is owned privately. In other countries the government owns all the land
and people lease it. This makes a big difference when it comes to public
projects and planning of land use .
So we have freehold, mailo, leasehold and customary tenure
systems.
That aside because of decades of sweeping land issues under
the rag, powerful interest groups have grown around this resource that have
proven not only to be a counter to government’s authority over the resource but
have also been unafraid to take the law into their hands to resolve ambiguities
over this resource.
This uncertainty has caused investors to pause, which
attitude we least in a country that is in a hurry to develop.
"Land underpins all assets and therefore an uncertainty about the security of land rights means no meaningful investments can be carried out...
If I going to put down billion s of shillings to start a
farm or construct an industrial park or factory or set up any productive asset
I need for a start to be sure that the land I will buy for the purpose will be
locked down against any unreasonable claims.
This is basic common sense. Which makes me wonder when some
“investors” claim to have invested billions in a project and yet they have not
even secured the property.
Uncertainity, which leads to unpredictability is not
capital’s friend.
A resolution of out land issues and the development of a
useful baseline from which to handle the various tenure systems is critical to
unlocking the full potential of our land.
We have almost half the region’s arable land, yet the output
of our farms is among the lowest in the region because not enough people want
to invest in farms to raise output. They say that an aerial survey of our
potential minerals showed that if we were to exploit our full potential,
Ugandans would have to move out first, but we are not a great mining nation at
all.
"Is it any wonder then that titled land sells at such premium even compared to elsewhere in the region? Relatedly is it any wonder that the urban areas, particularly Kampala continue to hog the benefits of the last three decades of economic growth?...
Unfortunately land issues all over the world are politically
explosive and seating governments tend to pussy foot around them at best or
maintain a bad status quo rather than do what is necessary to unlock its
potential.
The Bamugemereire probe is not going to unfurl the mess in
the land sector but we are hoping that it can at least create a base from which
to start resolving the issues and allow for the full exploitation of the land to our benefit.
