Land conflicts and national security in Uganda

Abstract

This study based on secondary sources to examine the nature of land tenure system in Uganda, its evolution and how it affected Uganda’s national security. National Security is an intricate interaction between political, economic , military, ideological, legal, social and other internal and external factors and in order to sustain security, there must be mechanisms put in place to protect or guarantee it. The reseach found out that land conflicts were rampant and ranked the highest among conflicts countrywide despite the government of Uganda having put in place measures for the administration of land. It was found out that in Uganda land governance was marked by contradiction between relatively progressive legislation and only partial implementation. The study cited fraud, obtaining money by fraud, malicious killings, destructions and criminal trespass as the most commonly committed crimes over land. The insititutions established to deal with land administration and land disputes such as customary authority system, local government and special courts for land justice were weak and this coupled with bribery, corruption and illegitimate demand for money slowed the justice delivery process. Such factors triggered individuals to seek alternative means which have sparked off land conflicts. It was further noted that as Uganda’s population was growing, land conflicts were on the rise majorly contributed to land being scarce. These land conflicts were majorly ignited by influencial individuals with political backing, legal muscle and economic ability. These use their connections to massively evict tenants and land lords, so as to acquire land freely . Some of those who resisted evictions ended up being killed. Such acts have had negative effects on national security. At the political strategic level, the county losses Agricultural Gross Domestic Product due to land conflicts coupled with unclear rights to land. The study based on these to make some recommendations on how to address land conflicts to gurantee Uganda’s National Security.