A section of Ugandans have expressed anger over the latest demand by Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Planning requiring all land owners to acquire and file with their respective district land offices their Post Office Box addresses, with many describing the requirements as archaic and diversionary from the corruption eating up the land sector.
The Ministry of Lands defended its action by citing Section 202 of the Registration of Titles Act, CAP 230 that stipulates that any notice from Office of Titles may be served or given by letter posted to the person concerned at his or address for service.
“This is therefore to request all registered properties and any other concerned third parties to update their postal addresses on the register in case of any changes for purposes of effective delivery of land services by Office of Titles,” read in part the notice.
However, the notice was received with criticism from many users on social media platform X formerly known as Twitter and leading the protest was one user, Abel Kandiho who wondered why Government is stuck in the ancient times and hanging on old laws, instead of changing with time.
He wrote, “Amend the law, the postal address system is no longer functional in this country! Where should people in the village get postal addresses from? It’s just a conduit of fraud in land registries and you know it very well!”
Kandiho’s sentiments were shared by another X user, Kamoga Munawa who wrote, “In the era of digital migration emails,DMS, mobile phone calls etc.Why would one opt for a Postal Address..??!!”
Richard Mulondo had no kind words for the staff at the Ministry of Lands. He asked the staff to retire from their jobs if they can’t think of any modern means to interact with Ugandans, other than sticking to the colonial era means like post office addresses.
“Who still uses postal address. The country has now moved to electronic mails. We request that, the old civil servant in Lands retire with their old knowledge and way of doing things. Kindly give chance to young competent youth. Thank you,” said Mulondo.
Lilliane Lydia Babirye described the directive from the Ministry of Lands as fraud gimmick noting, “Instead of restoring trust in people you poke into postal dysfunctions.”
Another X user, Daudi Mpiima wondered if the Ministry of Lands had abandoned its plans to digitise the land sector through its latest pronouncement, writing, “You guys said you were digitising. What was that then? I am aware of that questionable court ruling. This is 2024 though. How many Ugandans have functional mailboxes and for what? Why should we get mail addresses that we only need for land transactions? Mutama!”
Only one individual, Phillip Kahamaho backed the proposal, on grounds that it would act as a source of revenue for Posta Uganda writing, “Guys let’s save Uganda poster from collapsing.”
However, Ezekiel Ssekweyama punched holes into Kahamaho’s proposal writing, “There is no problem with us supporting government parastatals, however, they should also improve their level/quality of service delivery to the satisfaction of clients. The untidiness at many Posta Uganda branches is unwanted.”
