The Government is considering amending the bill on compulsory land acquisition currently before parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.
The decision to drop parts of the now controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2017 was reached on Wednesday evening during the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party caucus meeting at State House, Entebbe.
We have learnt that NRM MPs proposed that government amends the law, a move that President Museveni who did not seem to agree with, preferring to maintain it in its current form.
The bill seeks to amend Article 26 of the Constitution to allow for compulsory acquisition of land by the government before settling compensation disputes. A government valuer is to determine the value of compensation and in case the property owner is dissatisfied and declines to take the compensation, the bill proposes that the money be deposited with court.
But away from this original proposal that has sparked off opposition from different sections of the public including traditional leaders, church leaders, politicians and others, government now proposes to avail compensation money to the rightful owner of the land but not court as earlier proposed.
Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa says that the NRM Caucus, with President Yoweri Museveni in attendance, proposed a land tribunal that is expected to handle disputes within a specified period of time. This same proposal had earlier been fronted by Buganda Kingdom Premier Charles Peter Mayiga while reacting to the bill.
In his statement, Mayiga suggested the passing of subsidiary legislation under the existing land law to enable land owners get justice. He also cited a need to have a legislation putting in place a special land court to ensure that land compensation cases are dealt with expeditiously and in a satisfactory manner.
URN
