Kampala slums. BLB calls for urban renewal strategy.

Buganda Land Board has called for the stakeholders in Kampala to embrace urban renewal as a strategy to eliminate slums which have become an eye sore in the city.

Presenting at the KCCA organised land administration and management conference, BLB’s deputy CEO Omuk. Kizito Bashir Juma has emphasized the need for urban renewal to deal with the numerous slums in Kampala city.

He reasoned that this can be achieved through compensating the slum dwellers to vacate the slums or through public private partnerships. Giving an example of Katwe which he said is attractive for its proximity to the central business district and the value of its land, he said a project which gives the slum dwellers more valuable apartments in lieu of them giving up their land would successfully eliminate the eye sore slum which is along the road to the country’s only international airport.

He brought to the attention of the participants that Buganda Kingdom owns over 500 acres of land in Katwe and that it would without hesitation provide the land for the purpose of urban the proposed urban renewal; echoing owekitiibwa Waggwa Nsibirwa, the deputy Katikkiro of Buganda who had earlier addressed the conference and pledged that Buganda Kingdom will readily provide land towards development projects in the city. Omuk. Kizito further suggested that the Katwe project can be phased and have the first phase occupy 10 acres. To realize the dream of transforming Katwe, Omuk. Kizito suggested that first, necessary studies must be inniated, all stakeholders interests are mapped and considered, a physical development plan along with all necessary site investigations be done, establish an area for displacement and relocation of affected people, and create awareness.

The Lord Mayor of Kampala ssalongo Erias Lukwago speaking during the conference opposed the proposal to create freehold titles on public land in Kampala. He said the government is said that the government is just a trustee. Therefore, it should not be giving away land it holds in trust on freehold. It should just continue leasing. He also pointed out that the problem of land management in Kampala is the breach of trust by the government as a trustee. He said that the Uganda Land Commission has no mandate to allocate land, but it continues to allocate land that mostly belongs to schools, green spaces, and hospitals to investors.trustee. Therefore, it should not be giving away land it holds in trust on freehold. It should just continue leasing.

The state minister for Kampala-metropolitan Hon. Kabuye Kyofa thanked Buganda Kingdom for not only being a good landlord to Kampala city but also being the biggest donor of land to its development projects.

KCCA’s Musisi Flavia Zabali, who heads its GIS section, presented on the state of land management in the city. She outlined who owns what in Kampala, population density, development, and activities in the city. Point to note: In her presentation, she pointed out that most of Kampala is a slum with roads on the ground but not captured on the cadastral maps. “There’s no longer a clear distinction between residential and commercial areas.” she said. Land grabbing of wetlands(Nakivubo channel has been subdivided into plots!), poor transport infrastructure, Kampala lacks a reliable land management database.

Ms. Naome Kabanda-Director Land Management at the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development presented on land administration and management legal framework. She presented to the participants how the government guarantees land rights, including but not limited to protection against arbitrary evictions, good title, compensation in case of government projects. She also expounded on constitutional provisions which touch on land administration and management