The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
1 April 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
By Emmanuel Gyezaho & Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa
Kampala
THE ping pong between Mengo and the central government took a new twist yesterday after Buganda's Attorney General issued a rebuttal thwarting the government's latest stand on the controversial Land (Amendment) Bill 2007.
In a statement, a copy Daily Monitor has seen, Mr Apolo Makubuya has written stating that Buganda is not satisfied with the legal opinion of the Government's deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi on why the controversial Bill should be passed in Parliament.
| GA_googleFillSlot("AllAfrica_Other_Inset"); |
Mr Makubuya wrote that the government's response "is largely unconvincing and falls short of addressing Buganda's concerns as well as those raised by other groups" - firstly picking issue with the State's response that the Bill will ensure graver penalties for illegal evictions, before castigating the government over the limited consultations that were done prior to the drafting of the Bill.
Making the case that there are enough existent laws to deal with evictions, Mr Makubuya wrote: "Why should we believe that the State will be more vigilant with the new (law) where it has been lazy and inactive with the existing provisions on the matter...if the problem is the low penalties of the existing laws? Why doesn't the government simply seek to amend the Penal Code Act to increase the penalties...rather than seek to introduce a new parallel criminal offence?
In rebutting Buganda's prime stand that there are already sufficient laws to address the problem of land evictions, Deputy AG Fredrick Ruhindi wrote that the penalties and remedies in the Amendment Bill "will be more deterrent than the current ones." Mengo has since rejected the argument.
Mr Makubuya also wrote that Mengo is still unsatisfied with a proposal in the Bill that serves to empower the Minister of Land to determine nominal ground rent in the district land boards have failed.
"The Minister of Lands should be left out of determination of rent or resolution of land disputes. This should remain the work of the courts of law and not politicians," wrote Mr Makubuya.
"In any event why does the government think that the Minister will be able to do in six months what district land boards across Buganda have failed to do in four years?"
Mr Makubuya wrote that Buganda continues to reject a proposal in the Bill that tenants may only be evicted off land if they fail to pay nominal ground rent, saying the decision and the grounds for evictions "need to be left to courts of law which should judge each case on the merits of its particular facts."
Meanwhile, in a richly boisterous speech at the opening of the 2nd Session of the 16th Lukiiko of Buganda, the Katikkiro (Prime Minister), Mr John Baptist Walusimbi, said yesterday that Mengo is unwavering in its efforts to reclaim lost property.
"We currently hear many voices trying to divert us from our cause but we are not shaken. So long as I am still the Katikkiro, no one will stand in our way as we demand our property," said Mr Walusimbi, adding, "We are making genuine demands and I am optimistic that we shall repossess all the property through negotiations."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
