Kampala — A seven-year jail sentence is the penalty that will be handed down to landlords or any individual who attempts to evict, evicts or participates in the eviction of tenants.
That penalty forms the highlight of the government's proposed land law reforms as contained in the Land (Amendment) Bill currently being debated by Parliament.
But as Parliament nears completion of scrutiny of the Bill, questions continue to abound as to just how this five-page, four-clause Bill will affect the relationship between landlords and tenants, and just how prepared is the regime to enforce fresh changes to the 1998 Land Act.
It will be the second time in five years that the government is moving to change the Land Act--first amendments were done in 2004 with more than 30 sections of the Act changed.
Crisis of evictions
According to information from the Ministry of Lands, there are at least 64 illegal evictions reported on a monthly basis as gathered from media reports between June and October even though admittedly, those reports represent a fraction of the entire land conflicts in the country.
To bring an immediate halt to this problem, the government is introducing section 32A to the Land Act which states that lawful or bona fide occupants shall only be evicted for non- payment of ground rent and only by order of court.
The government is also moving to enhance the security of occupancy by tenants on registered land by including a provision that offers tenants a grace period of six months before an eviction order can be effected. It would imply that tenants will have at least half a year to plan for their exit. It is a provision that has drawn the most support from lawmakers in the House. The full section reads: 32 A (1) A lawful or bona fide occupant shall not be evicted from registered land except upon an order of eviction issues by a court and only for non payment of the annual nominal ground rent. (2) A court shall, before making an order of eviction under this section, take into consideration the matters specified in Section 32 (1). (3) When making an order for eviction, the court shall state in the order, the date, being not less than six months after the date of the order, by which the person to be evicted shall vacate the land and may grant any other order as to expenses, damages, compensation or any other matter as the court thinks fit. (4) A person who attempts to evict, evicts or participates in the eviction of a lawful or bonafide occupant from registered land without an order of eviction commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding seven years. (5) Where a person is convicted under subsection (4), the court may--(a) order that person to pay compensation or damages to the person who was evicted; or (b) make an order for restitution in favour of the person who was evicted.
No piece of legislation debated by the 8th Parliament has generated as much interest and controversy as the Land (Amendment) Bill. Initially the government had moved to include a new section 32 (B) which sought to subject the settlement of disputes on customary land to the arbitration of court.
That proposal drew the most vocal of opposition against the Bill which led to its staying for close to two years.
Fate of Landlords
Several lawmakers have argued on the floor that by protecting tenants, the Bill will jeopardise interests of landlords, in what has been one of the stickiest points for debate on the floor.
In its current form, however, the Bill restricts tenants from selling their right of occupancy (read bibanja) without giving the owner of the land the first option of buying the Kibajanja.
Any tenant who commits the offence is liable to a sentence of four years or a fine of Shs1.9 million or both.
The Bill also proposes that the Minister of Lands will prompt District Land Boards to determine the nominal ground rent payable by tenants to Landlords.
That provision has proved a contentious point for the government to defend as several MPs argued that by doing so, the Lands Minister and District Land boards would be exceeding their jurisdiction especially in cases where land is privately owned.
Others argued that if the land boards come in to determine rent payable in respect of land owned by private individuals, would that not amount to deprivation of the owner's right or interest in the property?
In his rebuttal to those protesting the Bill's passing, however, Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi said on Tuesday that whereas landlords have not been getting any income since President Idi Amin's 1975 Land Reform Decree abolished ground rent (busuulu), "this time round they will be able to collect ground rent from their heavily tenanted land."
"Some people have argued that the Bill will weaken the powers of the Landlords. This is not true," said Prof. Nsibambi. "On the contrary, Landlords will now know their tenants so that there is no influx of squatters on their land, as used to be the case under the Busuulu and Envujjo Law of 1928."
