ULA major achievements

In 1995, Uganda was debating the new national constitution and one of the contentious issues was land. The Alliances input on this issue enabled customary ownership of land to be recognized in the constitution, vesting land in the people and not the state as before.

In 1998 the land Act
was passed by parliament and the Alliance made a contribution towards the protection of land rights of tenants, women and children. The Alliance provided for traditional alternative dispute resolution, it provided for a land fund, it provided for the consent of a spouse before any transaction on family land is executed, it provided details of customary land and other provisions that protect the land rights of the poor and marginalized groups.

Land rights protection
The Alliance together with member organizations established six Land rights desks in six districts. The desks are based in Kibaale, Kampala, Luwero, Kapchorwa and Mbale and Apac. The Land rights desks cover neighboring districts as well. The desks have had tremendous impact on the work of the Alliance by meeting the needs of the people directly at the grassroots level. The desks are charged with information dissemination, amicable dispute settlement, sensitization at the community level and giving legal advice. The desks are managed either by paralegals or a lawyer and these people have been given training over time by the Alliance.

In 2004, the Land Act was revised
to eliminate redundant sections and insert other provisions to strengthen it. The heavy institutional structures were reduced, the Land rent to be paid to land lords was reverted to the district land boards to decide the amount. All this was done partly due to the researches that the Alliance had done to monitor the implementation of the Land Act.

 Development of the National Land Policy in 2005.
Ever since the land Act was passed in 1998, the act has been in operation without a guiding principle / National Land Policy. The alliance lobbied for the development of a National Land Policy that is intended to close the gap between the law and the policy and to operationalise  the Land Act and the process is going on. The Alliance has continued participating in the National Land Policy working group at ministerial level and shared its findings. To monitor the National Policy formulation process the Alliance together with like minded organizations formulated a CSO’s working group on the National Land Policy.

Support to the Benet Land rights question.
The Alliance undertook a litigation case on behalf of the Benet community in Kapchorwa and in October 27 2005 a consent judgment was finally signed, legally recognized the Benet as the rightful owners of the land they occupy. Efforts are underway to influence government to enforce government to deliver on its commitments in protecting the rights of its citizens.