The petitioners through their lawyers of Frank Tumusiime and Company Advocates also argue that under the Land Acquisition Act, the citizens have no bargain for their rights and property which is illegal.
A group of lawyers have petitioned the
Constitutional Court challenging the actions of government to compulsorily
acquire land from its citizens anywhere across the country to put up public utility projects.
The lawyers, namely Daniel Omara and
two civil society organizations namely; Advocates for Natural Resources and
Development -ANARDE and Resources Rights Africa Limited have sued the Attorney
General and the Uganda National Roads Authority as the respondents.
The Advocates contend that the
practice to take people's land compulsorily deprives citizens of their right to
own property and protection from deprivation of their property without adequate
and fair compensation as provided for under the law.
The government has always relied on the Land Acquisition Act of 1965 to compulsorily acquire land and put
up public utility projects such as roads, schools, hospitals and most
recently in Hoima and Bullisa districts where the government is about to start
the oil and gas pipeline project. The government has also been evaluating that
land it intends to acquire through its Valuer who carries out inspections in order to help and determine the current
market value of that land such that the owner gets compensated with that
amount.
But if someone is not satisfied with
the award and refuses to accept payments, the same law provides that the High
Court on an application of the Attorney General, may order payment to be made
into court on such conditions as it thinks appropriate.
However, according to the petitioners, that law on top of being too old, is in contravention of national objectives
and Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the 1995 Constitution which
provides for adequate compensation.
The petitioners through their lawyers of
Frank Tumusiime and Company Advocates also argue that under the Land
Acquisition Act, the citizens have no bargain for their rights and property
which is illegal.
//Cue in: “when you find…
Cue out: …adequate compensation”. //
Luganda Audio.
//Cue in: “Tugenze mukoti lwa…
Cue out: sayidi nzombi”. //
They now want court to declare that
section six, clause five of the Land Acquisition Act is inconsistent with the
constitution and that the actions of government to apply and seek orders to
deposit in court compensation sums for lands compulsorily acquired while relying
on the said land law is illegal.
In March, 2021 businessman John Mugisha
sued UNRA in the High Court for undervaluing his property which was affected by the Kira-Matugga road
project in Namugongo along the Kasangati road.
Mugisha
argued that his land was undervalued by the government Valuer at 2.8 billion
shillings and he demanded that court compels UNRA to pay him an additional 2.1
billion shillings since his private Valuer revealed that the property was worth
4.6 billion shillings.
