MBALE — The state minister for lands, Harriet Ntabazi, has intensified her campaign against officials she accuses of running a fraudulent land-titling racket, using a regional workshop in Mbale to warn government workers that action will be taken against those who grab or encroach on public land.
Ntabazi was speaking at a stakeholders’ workshop on the development of a comprehensive government land inventory at Mbale Resort Hotel, part of a national rollout, launched in July and organised by the Uganda Land Commission and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, to identify, survey and digitally register all state-owned land.
She told officials from the Bugisu, Teso and Bukedi sub-regions to stop treating public land as their own and to acquire land through legitimate means instead.
“Some government officials have made it a habit to grab or encroach on government land in areas where they work, including schools, hospitals and government headquarters,” Ntabazi said.
Her Mbale warning follows a blunter set of accusations she levelled weeks earlier at a parallel workshop in Kigezi, where she said the government was closing in on lands officers who issue fraudulent and multiple titles over public property. On that occasion she accused some staff in the ministry’s zonal offices of knowingly issuing fresh titles over land already registered to rightful owners — in some cases producing several competing titles for a single parcel — and warned that the practice would be stopped.
According to government figures cited at the programme’s July launch, public land accounts for about 23% of Uganda’s total land area, but only a small share has been formally titled, leaving large portions exposed to encroachment and fraudulent transactions. Ntabazi has said government land records remain scattered across the Uganda Land Commission, the ministry, local governments and other agencies, making an accurate national inventory difficult to compile — a gap officials say the fake-title trade has exploited.
At the Mbale meeting, which brought together Resident District Commissioners, LC5 chairpersons, Chief Administrative Officers and officials from the Uganda Land Commission and the ministry, Ntabazi urged local leaders to strengthen cooperation with the two institutions in the fight against land grabbing, bribery and corruption.
Local leaders used the engagement to raise specific disputes. Natubu Geoffrey Wafukhulu, the Bududa District LC5 chairperson, welcomed the engagement but flagged a road passing through the staff quarters of Bulucheke Health Centre IV, saying a proposed alternative route had triggered disagreements with the community and ended up in court.
Emma Bwayo, the Namisindwa District LC5 chairperson, said communities in his district continued to face numerous land-related challenges, and urged the ministry to spend more time in the field rather than in boardrooms.
“The ministry should move beyond boardrooms and increase its presence in the field to better understand and address the realities faced by communities,” Bwayo said.
He also called for stronger support for District Land Boards, saying better-facilitated land management structures would improve dispute resolution and service delivery.
In response, Ntabazi said she would follow up on the Bulucheke Health Centre IV road dispute to ensure the matter is properly handled.
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