Pillar 8
Land and Mineral Resources Development
Policy Shift
Increase local ownership, investment and participation in the sub-region’s mineral developments
Intervention 21: Land Registration
The 1995 Uganda Constitution provides that all land in Uganda is owned by the people of Uganda (Article 237) and vests attendant rights in the people in accordance with the four formally recognised land tenure systems (customary, freehold, leasehold, and mailo). The majority of the land in Busoga is still held under customary ownership without titles to guarantee full rights to the owners. Cases of land grabbing were frequently reported during the consultative meetings for this BDA across the sub-region. Land grabbing was attributed to the failure by the area authorities to process land titles, the absence of the land board in many of the districts, ignorance of the land law by residents and failure by Government to redevelop vacant land. The Busoga Consortium, through this BDA and working in partnership with the Ministry of Lands, will undertake a land rights awareness and registration campaign geared at supporting the people in Busoga to know their rights but, more importantly, to process title deeds to their lands. Access to land titles will bolster business growth and access to credit from financial institutions using land titles as collateral.
Intervention 22: Mineral Beneficiation
In 2017, there were new mineral discoveries estimated in excess of 300 million tonnage in the districts of Bugiri, Iganga and Mayuge. This is in addition to iron ore, nickel and gold in the district of Namayingo and Bugiri. However, there is limited information at local government’s level and in the wider public domain regarding ongoing government efforts to develop the mineral sector in the sub-region. Several participants in the consultative meetings for this BDA, intimated that seeking for information regarding the requirements for licensing are too complex and costly for local investors. Furthermore, the process is centralized in Entebbe, providing an additional impediment to many licence seekers. This is despite Government’s commitment to “regularize and improve artisanal and small scale mining through light-handed application of regulations, provision of information on production and marketing, provision of extension services through miners associations and implementation of awareness campaigns targeting artisanal and small-scale miners40” Working with the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM), the Busoga Consortium shall support the ongoing Government efforts to identify mineral occurrences and deposits and characterisation of deposits according to potential volume and value; the Consortium shall also determine the feasibility for extraction and processing, identification of different hazards and risks and assessing the suitability of different mineral deposits for different products and uses. In addition, the Busoga Consortium shall support the acquisition of licences by local entrepreneurs as well as mineral beneficiation as a means to achieve local economic development. In circumstances where licences are issued to foreigners, the Consortium shall lobby for royalties to be paid local communities and governments where the minerals are mined.