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Beti Olive Namisango Kamya, Rubaga North It is unfortunate that the spirit in which the Land Bill has been formulated and tabled has not been considered as an issue during the land debate because clearly evicting tenants in any form is not the cause and reason that this Land Bill has been brought and passed.
This Land Bill is not even the answer to the problem of evictions. First of all, the trend in the world is that, as a country develops, people shift away from the land to other industries. In developed countries like USA only 1% of their entire population lives on land because the others migrate to other industries. In mid-income countries like Brazil and Argentina, 20% live off the land with 80% having migrated from the land to other economic occupations. In other developing countries like Ghana, they have only 60% on the land with 40% having migrated. But it is stagnant countries like Uganda which have 85% of the population stuck on the land. What the government should be doing is to bring a progressive and forward-looking policy that encourages people to migrate from agriculture to other forms of economic activity. But this Land Bill is an admission and a confession that the NRM government is incapable of rolling out other forms of economic activity. The Land Bill will not solve the dual ownership problem. Dual land ownership is the cause of the war in the Middle East. It is the cause of land problems in Uganda, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Why can’t Uganda learn from examples all over the world? In 2030, the population of Uganda will reach 50-70 million. Where are they going to get land for those people if government cannot formulate a land policy that can move people from the land like it’s happening elsewhere? The government of Uganda only wants to create tension all the time for the next election. It is always about the next election with the NRM government—which is a great pity—because we should be thinking about the next generation, but Mr. Museveni always thinks about the next election. We have lost the Land Bill in Parliament because NRM has the numbers, and the Buganda Caucus has failed to unite as a block as other caucuses have done. When you listen to presentations from the Lango Caucus, Acholi Caucus, Karamoja Caucus, Teso Caucus and all the caucuses in Parliament—they came out with one voice on the Land Bill. At first, these caucuses from the North were disturbed by Article 32 (b). But when it was removed, they were kind of relaxed. But when they spotted that this Article they rejected was being brought back in another Article 59, they rose up and said: ‘Listen, we are not stupid.’ They sat down and rejected Article 59 [Article 32 (b) and 59 dwells on administration of customary land]. They even told the minister [of Lands] Omara Atubo that ‘You are Pontius Pilate because you sat with us in a meeting in Lango and you know what the people of Lango said about this Bill. Now for you to go round and bring it back, you are Pilate.’ The Speaker tried to protect him pleading that he had come to Parliament in the form of a minister in the names of Omara Atubo; but they [MPs] reminded him that even Pilate acted as a governor of Rome in Israel but no one remembers that he was the Governor of Israel. Everybody associates Pilate with the death of Jesus, even after he washed his hands off the case. No one remembers that Godfrey Binaisa [Former Ugandan President] was the Attorney General; we all remember a Muganda man called Binaisa who enacted a Constitution that abolished the Kabakaship. You can’t hide behind the offices. History and posterity will always judge you as an individual. Other regions can put their political differences aside, and champion the issues of the voters and their culture; it is the Buganda Caucus which has an 80% stake in this Bill that instead couldn’t come together. I find this very embarrassing. But I want to comfort the people of Uganda, and particularly the people of Buganda that are hurt by this Bill that they should not lose heart because this is like a football match; if you lose the first round, you don’t give up. We should put all our effort on the 9th Parliament so that we get the numbers to amend all these things that we didn’t agree with. This is not the end of the game; there is a return match which is one year and half away. During the elections of 2011, people should prepare themselves to change the coach and players, in order to get what they want. As recorded by DAVID TASH LUMU
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