Solving land conflicts to build peace in society

Imagine a life of hopelessness, a life with no shelter, sleeping on the streets in the cold, sleeping door to door. That is the life of a person without a home. The land is a very important and sensitive resource for people in Uganda. The competition for land among the growing population is leading to conflict causing insecurity. Structurally Uganda’s population is growing at a high rate of 3.2 per cent and is projected to shoot up to 54.9 million by 2025 due to the high fertility rate. Land wrangles are becoming very common in Uganda.

Gloria Namusoke a widow narrates that her trouble started in 1996 when she lost her husband. By the time he died, they had twenty-five acres of land in Gayaza in Uganda. Her in-laws evicted her and her five children from a place that was her farmland as well as where she got food from thus ruining her source of food and causing a lack of food, something that triggered insecurity in her and the children’s life. She lived in a ramshackled house without windows and doors. “One night we were attacked by thieves, they took whatever we had including our radio, television set and fridge. One of my daughters was attacked by one of the thieves. We screamed for help and the rogues took off. Our shelter was insecure but it was the only option at that time. My relatives continued to threaten me not to set foot on my land in Gayaza. All the year’s squatters were encroaching on my land. I hardly had any money to manage the land nor did I have any information on court processes. She continued.

“In 2014 I was approached by a real estate developer, one Ruta Ngambwa, we agreed that he develops my land and I would resettle and earn from it. However he fraudulently sold my land, I was advised to go to court but until now 9 years I am still in court battling.”

“I have tried to ask some squatters to leave my land but in vain. One time we tried to approach them and only were we attacked by an angry mob that chased us with pangas and sticks. We disappeared into the bushes with my daughter and took shelter at the police station in Gayaza. Residents of Masoli the small village in Gayaza cannot talk to me, they hate me and are still threatening to harm me and my children if we don’t leave them alone.” She states.

The authorities’ voice

The legal fraternity is also overwhelmed when it comes to land issues. Despite progress made to address land-related legislative issues, the land sector in Uganda faces several challenges that include insecurity of tenure, overlapping conflicting land rights and glaring inequity to access to and ownership of land. The possibility of increasing conflict is largely driven by competition for influence and power which comes with demonstrated control over land matters such as ownership.

Corruption and ignorance of the law have led to an escalation of the land conflict to phenomenal levels. One of the main hindrances to solving these conflicts legally is delaying court cases. The court cases delay due to various reasons, One of Uganda’s lawyers, Andrew Sebugwawo from Nakagga and company advocates, explains why land cases delay  “In the first case, they are many cases that are filed. There is a high accumulation of cases in court. You can not have a court, like a high court in Kampala handling land cases and you have over two thousand cases filed in one year. The cases are so many,  because one, there is a breakdown in the social arrangement which deals with District resolutions in the country.” Sebugwaawo explains.

“The LC system is non-functional it can not solve disputes even within their locality.”

Sebugwaawo says, “The clan system which would have helped has broken down. Clan system right from the family as you go higher into the ranks, that whole dispute resolution system has broken down in that if you have a land dispute with your brother or sister you don’t have to go to court, you just have to call for a family meeting, and that issue will be sorted but that family arrangement, that family system has broken down all over the country.”  He mentions.

He further says that  “People are individualistic about themselves. if you have a dispute with your neighbour, you don’t have to go to court, just call an LC meeting and that dispute will be solved.” He continues.

He goes on further to mention that court has  become a solution to every dispute leading to a high amount of cases.” He says.

Journalists reports.

Meanwhile, in the Lango sub-region in the northern part of Uganda, many internally displaced people had stayed in camps for over 20 years. They are now returning home, this is increasing competition over access to land, minerals and ownership of land. This is resulting in high tension and violence, and of late all these cases are showing an increase in conflict and destruction of peace and security in the Lango sub region.

Charity Akullo the Daily Monitor correspondent based in the Liira Lango sub-region said,“ Many land conflicts have come up as a result of corrupt land officials who connive with fraudsters to issue more than one land title for a particular piece of land. this creates a situation where you will find individuals claiming ownership of one piece of land with each having a title. And this has been directly impacting on the Peace and Security of not only the people but of course some other sectors as well.”

“An example of this is an incident that occurred on May 4^th 2020 in Oyam District. Four people lost their lives and four others were hospitalised over a school land wrangle.  The incident, which took place in a village in Okomo parish in the Ngai sub-country in Oyam District, resulted from the land wrangle between family members and school authorities of Lira Primary school where each of the parties claimed ownership of the land. In the process of the scuffle, four people were killed after getting involved in a serious fight with the community members who had rushed to rescue the caretaker who was cut while ploughing the disputed piece of the land.”

The charity says land conflicts are direct threats not only to lives but also of course to food security as it causes massive loss of lives and therefore loss of workforce which is particularly important as agriculture tends to rely heavily on human labour. In regards to peace and security, land dispute and conflicts have led to the loss of lives of many. In some scenarios in Charity’s home District Liira, Lango sub-region in particular she has seen revenues being carried out. “You can find more than sixty grass-thatched houses or homesteads in a village being burnt to ashes as a result of a land conflict. And to her, she feels like this a matter that community members, local leaders, and the government should intervene if need be to reduce the deaths of many people who keep dying out of the vice. When someone’s house is burnt to ashes he together with his family will have nowhere to go, and this still cuts across the peace and security aspect. People need to live healthy, people need to live peacefully, but because of the issues of land wrangles you will find that people are not stable. You find when they are living in fear because they think they can easily get attacked. The majority of the people who suffer most as a result of the vice are the vulnerable groups, the mothers, young children, the elderly and the persons with disabilities.”  Charity appeals to fellow community members, the local leaders and the government to intervene in the matters of land wrangles then they would have saved the people from the mysterious challenges they do get as a result of land conflict.

International bodies intervention.

Policy documents on land such as this from United Nations Economic Commission for Africa offer several guidelines for African countries to promote peace and security.

The Uganda constitution says that all land in Uganda shall be owned in accordance with land tenure systems inclusive of customary, freehold, mail and leasehold. In the constitution are other detailed guidelines on ownership, and occupancy of land among others.

UNESCO is working closely with organisations like the cross culture foundation of Uganda, and CFU. CFU highly regards the interface between old traditional systems and state systems. It focuses on protecting rights to land by documenting traditional land principles and practices. They also look at traditional and modern conflict resolution. The foundation has also focused on protecting widows, orphans and HIV victims among others. CFU with the UNESCO offices in Nairobi supports communities through the production, and publicity of materials, national exhibitions and establishing linkages with policymakers, media and other stakeholders. This foundation acts as a catalyst and checks measure to promote development as seen through cultural lenses. CFU works closely with partner organisations that are operating in diverse Districts in Uganda. The partners are facilitated with grants, guidance and ideas. UNICOM another organisation, UNATCOM, Uganda National Commission for UNESCO, is also working primarily with government agencies like ministries and the Parliament of Uganda. It works with faith-based organisations, media, cultural institutions and the private sector.  Their vision is to have a learning, cultured and informed and peaceful nation. One of their functions is to monitor and evaluate the progress of UNESCO programmes in Uganda and to report to UNESCO offices. It is with such organisations that we are having our institutions in Uganda under check, thus curbing the multiplying problems of land wrangles and promoting peace and security.

This story is part of the African Women in Media (AWiM) Peace and Security Journalism Programme in partnership with UNESCO, through the IPDC framework.