Following Presidential directive on land issues,Ministry of lands,Housing and Urban Development has emabacked on titling of all church of uganda land to prevent it from land grabbers.
According to Ministry of lands Senior Communication Manager Dennis Obbo,most of Church of uganda land since the 1888 has remained unknown, unsurveyed and unregistered.
“It has not been known to Government and no government document isssued. As a consequence, it has been stolen, grabbed, taken away, and now it faces stale claims from 3rd or 4th generations of grand children who claim that there great grand parents never gave the church land citing kiryamakyumu in Rukungiri; Nebbi where the cathedral is; In Agago,”he stated.
Meeting the Lord Bishops of South Ankole, West Ankole, North West Ankole, North Ankole,Clergies, church Commissioners with team from ministry of lands on behalf of Permanent Secretary Mrs Dorcas Okalany, Obbo stressed that When land is registered, a land title is issued and conclusive proof of evidence under the Ugandan law of ownership.
He however advised clergies that for any registered trustee to title their land, they must seek the consent of the Minister responsible for lands before they proceed adding that in the last kisanja, the Minister Hon Judith Nabakooba did give consent to survey and title all COU land.
“My name is the team leader for the church of uganda mass land titling exercise, representing the Permanent Secretary of the Lands Ministry.The team I lead is here to implement a Presidential Directive, communicated to us through the Lands Minister Hon Judith Nabakooba in June 2024 while launching the land title mass registration for COU,”he stated.
According to Obbo, the mass titling started in May 2026 in Kigezi subregion and have completed the survey of 1,636 parcels of land in order to process freehold titles. The biggest was 98 acres and the smallest was 0.32 acres.
“Today we are in the Ankole sub region to survey 1,253 parcels of unregistered church land that have the Government blessing and ministerial consent to proceed with surveys of 99 land parcels in Mbarara; 202 in Isingiro; 57 in Rwampara; 128 in Kiruhura; 19 in Kazo; 129 in Ibanda; 288 in Ntungamo; 99 in Sheema; 50 in Rubirizi; 84 in Buhweju; 27 in Bushenyi; and 71 in Mitooma,”Obbo stressed.
Citing the bible scriptures in Jermiah 32:1-15 which shows that land registration is biblical.he cautioned clergies to embrace the exercise “Jermiah acquired land and he immediately registered it. No delays, no trusting other human beings who keep changing. So, this exercise is biblical, and because of the public outcry in all dioceses, we must do the survey and registration very fast and in the shortest possible time, with Governments help,”Obbo said.
He noted that 10 days have been allocated to survey all the 1,253 parcels and If they miss out, the Ministry team shall not come return to conduct the same exercise.
“If you have any new parcels for the church not yet submitted to the church commissioners, lets add them when the team comes on ground. If you do it on your own it will cost you between 15-18 million. This has therefore been highly subsidized by Goovernment and lets not lose this government opportunity,”Obbo advised
He advised bishops to mobilize the masses to process the land titles amicably without disputes over land on ground.
“Time for talking is over, we now must move to action in order to protect and utilize church land. The titles are conclusive evidence of ownership and so these must be secured,Obbo emphasized.
In conclusion he said Government now requires unregistered church land owners to cause a metamorphorsis of land to move to the market economy, away from the subsistance and vulnerable practices that keep them under threats of forced evictions.
“We must title church land and join programs like the Parish to Market (P2M) launched by H E the President in 2022, which require large consolidated parcels of land to be used for commercial activities and uptaking commercial enterprises in the next 5 years by the church. This is the foundation which the NRM Government is laying for the entities including COU to move from Obwiriza ( grass thatched houses) to Amatafaari (permanent income generating structures). Registration of land therefore is the first step towards this change. So lets take this exercise very serious.
