Nabakooba cautions landlords on Land Fund fraud

Lands minister Judith Nabakooba has cautioned landlords who intend to rip off government under the Land Fund programme by selling it land that has no sitting tenants.

Ms Nabakooba explained that under the Land Fund, government is giving out land titles to different tenants as a way of ensuring their security of tenure.

“Government buys land for people to live free, those selling land to the government should be genuine with clear documentation. No landlord should use this arrangement (Land Fund) to dupe government,” Ms Nabakooba said.

The minister made the call on Saturday while meeting warring groups over land wrangles in Mityana District. Her visit to the area was prompted by complaints from residents of Kalungu-Bala in Banda Town Council and Butayunja Town Council, all in Mityana District.

One of the area leaders told the minister how he was lured into signing on a land document by a landlord who plans to sell the land to government.

“The landlord wrote to the mayor expressing interest to sell his land to the government, I declined to sign on it (letter) because the people were not involved in the process,” the leader said.

The land in contention is Block 129, plots 14, 15 and 43 at Busujju in Banda Town Council comprising about 348 acres. The land sits on three mailo land titles.

Ms Nabakooba urged landlords who intend to sell their land to follow a transparent process where all stakeholders are involved. She also opened an investigation into the matter, saying part of the land the landlord wants to sell to the government has no occupants. She asked the investigating committee to come up with a final report in two weeks.

In Butayunja Town Council, the minister was dissatisfied with the ownership of the land due to discrepancies in the documents and statements from the claimants. She also noted that the hired surveyor was not registered and, therefore, had no right to conduct the business or engage in the land titling process.

“All activities on this land should be stopped with immediate effect as we crosscheck the records in the titling process in a period of two months. The status quo should be maintained and a commissioner’s caveat should be placed on this land immediately,” Ms Nabakooba said.

“I am not satisfied with what is on ground. Let us scrutinise them again. We have realised that unregistered surveyors were contracted to do the work. Also, the landlord talks of one square mile yet my records show 489 hectares,” she added.

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