Uganda’s State Minister for Lands, Sam Mayanja, has announced that government will cancel more than 400 land titles deemed fraudulent, following a year-long investigation into disputes in Bulindo, Wakiso District.
The inquiry, carried out by the Ministry of Lands, uncovered widespread irregularities in the allocation of land in the area. Officials said the dispute had fuelled destruction, insecurity, and violent clashes among residents.
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“I was here slightly over a year ago when blood was being shed and law and order was collapsing,” Mr Mayanja recalled after meeting affected residents last week. He said the probe revealed that while the main contested property—plot 24—remains intact, numerous overlapping titles had been illegally generated.
According to the findings, over 200 acres of land were fraudulently expanded into more than 700 acres, creating hundreds of what the minister described as “ghost titles.” These forged records will now be deleted from the official register.
“Those titles must be cleansed from the record, and with the new digitalised land information system, duplication of titles can no longer happen,” Mr Mayanja said.
The report has been handed to Brig Henry Ishoke, who heads the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, to pursue those responsible. The minister said investigations would focus on individuals within the Ministry of Lands and others who facilitated or benefited from the fraudulent transactions.
He also pledged that occupants who were forcibly evicted would be protected, stressing that “the cardinal principle of land ownership is occupancy.”
However, Kira Municipality Mayor Julius Mutebi noted that some victims remain reluctant to return to their land. “We are partly happy but also not very happy, because those who destroyed property are still sitting on it,” he said, urging further action to restore residents’ rights.
The land conflict is believed to have originated from irregular sales by the late Jafas Mukiibi Wagumbuluzi, who was accused of subdividing and disposing of large tracts of family land without following due process. His actions triggered overlapping claims, leaving many buyers with disputed or worthless titles.
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