The Minister of state for Lands, Housing and Urban Planning, Dr. Sam Mayanja has issued a directive today 2nd February 2023, suspending all District land Boards that have failed to meet their annual reporting obligation as required by the Ministry.
“District land boards which are not up to date with their reporting date by December 31, 2022 should not be eligible to be in office by January 1, 2023,” the Minister said.
The annual reports must contain, among others, a summary of all transactions undertaken by a district land board in the year, summary of all board sittings, lists of achievements and challenges faced and proposed recommendations.
The Minister also added that all transactions for land registration that have been conducted by the outdated District land Boards are null and void.
“No transactions for land registration, survey or valuation shall be handled by the Ministry until this directive is complied with,” added Hon. Mayanja.
According to the land Act, these District Land Boards hold and allocate land in the district which is not owned by a person or an authority. They also facilitate the registration and transfer of interests in land.
However, the land board has an obligation to account to the district council and consequently the people of Uganda, how they handled land- related matters in the district for the previous year.
Non-accountability amounts to misbehavior, misconduct or incompetence and is a ground to remove a member of the board from office by the district council on the recommendation of the district executive committee under section 58(2), (b) and (c) of the Land Act.
