By David Mwanje
The Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, under the leadership of Hon. Judith Nabakooba, has successfully completed a critical cleanup of the land register for Blocks 190, 193, and 530 in Kyaggwe County, Mukono Municipality. This milestone, announced in a press release on June 20, 2025, marks a significant step toward ensuring sustainable land use and tenure security, aligning with the Ministry’s vision of “Sustainable Land Use, Land Tenure Security, Affordable, Decent Housing, and Organized Urban Development.”
The cleanup exercise addressed long standing issues of overlapping land titles in Mukono Municipality, a problem rooted in the colonial era when urban town blocks were demarcated over existing mailo land blocks in the 1950s. This misalignment led to the issuance of multiple titles for the same parcels of land, creating opportunities for fraudsters to exploit unsuspecting citizens and financial institutions. To rectify this, the Ministry halted all land transactions on the affected blocks and embarked on a meticulous process to clean the national land register, with Mukono chosen as the pilot area for this initiative.
According to Hon. Nabakooba, the transition from a manual to a computerized land registration system enabled the Ministry to detect these discrepancies. “The manual system had significant limitations, but with computerization, we could identify overlapping titles that had caused confusion and fraud,” she stated. The cleanup involved issuing public notices in newspapers and conducting hearings with landowners and their representatives. As a result, 1,237 fraudulent or erroneous titles were identified and canceled, restoring integrity to the land register for Blocks 190, 193, and 530.
The successful completion of this exercise has now opened these blocks for legitimate land transactions, providing relief to landowners and stakeholders in Mukono Municipality. The Ministry has assured the public of its commitment to maintaining a clean national land register and plans to replicate this effort in other urban areas facing similar challenges.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been a vocal advocate for resolving land disputes and ensuring tenure security across Uganda. During a recent address on June 17, 2025, in Butambala, the President emphasized the importance of protecting tenants from illegal evictions, a stance that aligns with the Ministry’s efforts in Mukono. “The Land Act is very clear. No one is allowed to evict a kibanja owner. If someone tells you to leave land you have been using, that’s abuse of your ignorance,” Museveni declared, tracing Uganda’s land challenges to the colonial era mailo system, which rewarded collaborators with large estates, often at the expense of local communities.
Museveni’s commitment to land reform was further highlighted during the swearing in ceremony of Deputy Chief Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija on April 24, 2025, at State House, Entebbe. The President called for judicial reforms to address “irrational judicial decisions” that exacerbate land disputes, specifically referencing a case in Kiboga where illegal evictions had occurred. “I appeal to the judiciary to take this matter seriously,” he urged, emphasizing that only the courts and the Ministry of Lands have the authority to handle evictions through due process. Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo praised Museveni’s “timely and thoughtful appointments” in the judiciary, noting their importance in strengthening the rule of law in land matters.
The cleanup in Mukono has been hailed as a model for transparency and public engagement. Hon. Nabakooba expressed gratitude to the public for their patience, the Mukono Zonal Office staff for their dedication, and the Ministry’s top management for their guidance. “This exercise demonstrates our unwavering commitment to a clean and reliable land register, which is essential for socio economic development,” she said.
The Ministry encourages stakeholders to resume lawful transactions on Blocks 190, 193, and 530 and remains dedicated to extending similar reforms nationwide, ensuring that Uganda’s land management system supports equitable development and protects citizens’ rights.
