News on Land

Several families along river Nile in Jinja are on the brink of losing ownership of their land as preparations for redevelopment of the area take centerstage. The residents however claim the investor, Heritage Site Uganda, has no authority over their land. Buikwe Resident District Commissioner, Jane Francis Kagayi has since asked the investor to liaise with the physical planner's office to establish facts about the land in order to avoid future land wrangles.

The Opportunity: A clear gap in standards for the land sector

The San can be considered as one of the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa. Much like in the rest of Southern Africa, the San of Botswana have consistently been marginalized, negated, and relegated to the margins of society.

In what is bound to be a historic development in Tanzania, Africa and much of the rest of the world, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has committed her government to “empowering” women on land-related issues.

As part of wider efforts to functionally and effectively champion women’s rights in the name of justice and gender equality, President Hassan has solemnly pledged to ensure that women in Tanzania readily access “economic rights and justice”.

Gender inequality doesn't make sense on any level.

By marginalising women, we deny ourselves the opportunity to lift millions of men, women and children out of poverty. Not to mention the chance of a just and fair world.

From birth, girls, boys, women and men are expected by society to play certain roles and behave in certain ways, based on traditions, religion, and other beliefs.

These behaviours are learned and shaped by the gender norms in a society.

Land is the most important asset in most parts of the world that people can own, including Uganda. In Buganda, land is the way of life as the kingdom’s cultural aspirations are based on land, hence titles like Ssaabataka for a prince who is going to become the Kabaka. Clan heads and elders in Buganda are known as Abataka. However, this scenario isn’t only prevalent in Buganda. Land is a major asset across the country. It is the biggest means of production since our economy is agricultural-based. 

Land grabs facilitated by multinational corporations, foreign investors and local governments in a pursuit for agribusiness have been escalating during the last decade. Huge acquisitions of farmland have led to violent displacements of rural populations. Although reports of the practice are not as recurrent in the media, the problem is far from over.

AS President Samia Suluhu Hassan meets representative of various groups of Tanzanian society, herders have come out with a call that they should not be forgotten because they have longstanding pressing issues worthy of a presidential audience.

He said such a meeting will enable the president to recognize their plight including in being disregarded by political leaders who hand out wrong instructions to them as if livestock keeping activities have no contribution to the national economy.

Introduction

In May 2021 the Land Portal conducted its fourth Annual Visitor Survey (AVS). The AVS is an important tool to assess impact, track progress and engage with the community, measuring the level of trust across visitors and partners, assessing the alignment with the current strategy, and identifying areas of improvement. With over 380 respondents from 80 different countries, this round of the Annual Survey provided plenty of results, insights, and ideas. The main points are summarised below.

Key Results

In May 2021, the numbers of households whose land rights have been secured with the support by the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy have reached a peak: Thanks to the hard work of our partners and project teams, 110.163 households had their land legally documented by then, corresponding to about  550.000 people directly benefitting.

Whenever the word ‘lease’ is mentioned, three things must come to mind; periodic holding, terms and conditions, and reversionary interests. These features are indispensable to this tenure system because by definition, it is the form of land holding that affords exclusive ownership to be granted by an owner of land, whom we call “the lessor” or “landlord” to another person, called “the lessee” or “tenant” for a period of time, after which such land “reverts” to the lessor. Leases accommodate no perpetuity, however long the period in the lease may be.

Dar es Salaam. Land acquisition by investors is said to be one of the major causes of land disputes in Tanzania - especially when locals are not involved in the processes.

Some leaders at the village level offer lands to prospective investors without getting approval from village authorities in accordance with the Village Land Act of 1999.

This, to a large extent, has been sparking land disputes, which normally result in stagnation of investment in the area and at times leading to violation of human rights.