Uganda: Opposition warns government over land

(SomaliNet) The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has asked the Ugandan government to formulate a national land policy before the Land Amendment Bill is passed in Parliament.

Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Najjanakumbi, Kampala yesterday, the shadow lands minister, Florence Ekwau Ibi, said FDC welcomes the attention the Government is paying to the violation of land rights in the country.

However, she advised the Government to research about the causes of the land problems.

“Go slow on land. Do not force Parliament to make laws that subtract powers and rights from the people,” Ekwau said. “Laws strengthen policies, but in Uganda the reverse is true.”

FDC officials said the Land Bill was not the answer to the rampant evictions, but there was need to correct the weaknesses within the land departments and allow relevant institutions to function.

The party called for the deletion of a section which bars landlords from evicting anybody on customary land except by court order.-New Vision