President Museveni on Tuesday met with Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II at Nakasero State Lodge in Kampala.
Mr Museveni, after the meeting tweeted saying “We discussed matters of mutual interest.”
“I thank His Majesty the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II for the courtesy call,” Mr Museveni added.
The Kabaka was accompanied by the Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga and Prince David Wasajja.
Sources said they discussed several issues, including the proposed land amendment.
“This afternoon, the Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II visited the Nakasero state lodge where he met the president. As you may be aware, leaders always have some things to talk about and indeed if there any issues the leaders talk about them and it yields to something,” Mr Mayiga told BBS TV after the meeting.
The meeting comes after a proposed government Bill seeking reforms in the Mailo land tenure system sparked a storm as Buganda opposes any move aimed at tampering with it.
Recently, the government announced that it is coming up with new land reforms, including scrapping Mailo land, which they say will protect interests of both landlords and bibanja holders (tenants) and also save them from arbitrary evictions. The system is common in Buganda.
Nakaseke, Luweero and Nakasongola districts continue to register a high number of cases involving mass land evictions over failure by the different parties to honour the land transaction guidelines under the amended Land Act 2010.
In Nakasongola, where more than 80 per cent of the land is under the mailo system, a section of the landlords claim that the government’s planned interventions seem to be bent on trying to cushion the unresolved and unfair sections of the land act that deny them the right to benefit from their land.
Mr Solomon Mpagi, who owns about 1.5 square miles of land in Nabisweera Sub-county, said the government is to blame for the continued wrangles between the landlords and tenants since efforts to have the land fund rolled out in the district have failed.
Disappointed with compensation
“Some of the landlords, including myself, are willing to enter into negotiations with the government, but many that were approached by the Uganda Land Commission for compensation have never been cleared. They have spent more than seven years waiting for compensation. Many have decided to abandon the deal and have repossessed their land,” he said.
During Heroes’ Day celebrations at Kololo Independence Grounds on June 9, President Museveni described Mailo land as “an evil land system.”
The Uganda Land Commission also recommended that the system be scrapped.
A source at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development last month said the law will guarantee safety of bibanja holders and tenants and shield them from incessant evictions.
Mr Samuel Ssebalamu, a landlord at Kakooge Sub-county in Nakasongola, claims not all landlords are extremists and are against their respective tenants enjoying their rights.
Mr Moses Ssendagire, a tenant on land at Mayirikiti Village in Nakasongola Sub-county, blames the landlords for attempting to undermine the amended Land Act (2010) without seeking a review of its sections through the right channels.
“Our landlords believe that the tenants have no rights on their respective bibanja (plots),” he said.
Recently, Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba discovered that in some parts of Nakasongola, more than 100 households are on the verge of being evicted after their respective landlords allegedly fenced off large chunks of land, denying them the right to use their respective bibanja.
The district leaders, including the minister, noted that some landlords were not fully compensated under the land fund and have decided to repossess their respective land after years of waiting for the land fund balances from the government.
