Do Women Have A Right To Own Land In Uganda?

By Kyomugisha Lynette 
The Deputy Volunteer Coordinator IJM, UCU Chapter

Land is a very important resource in Uganda, it can be used as a basis for income, sustenance. This is because of the fact that it is used for agriculture production which is the largest income earner in Uganda and source of livelihood taking upto 80% of the country's population.

Right from the history of Africa, the African Traditional Society has always viewed women as the weaker sex, marginalizing them and making them the less privileged. This has consequently made land ownership for them a fallacy. In Buganda, which is in the central region of Uganda, there is a human face to the problem of women ownership of land. Very many stories and case scenarios in the judicial system show the plight of women in many rural areas of Uganda and indicate why women's land rights are high on the agenda in society. In Uganda, women own only 7% of the land, leaving 93% with access to land only through a male relation, usually a father, husband or son this is so because most land is held under customary tenure and is regulated by customary law and men were perceived to be the only people with the right to land ownership. 

Though statutory law does not bar women from owning property, the reality within which they live effectively denies them this right. There are many socio-cultural practices that discriminate against women, discouraging them from owning land or sanctioning them for it, among these, is the high value placed on marriage. Ugandan women are socialized to perceive marriage as a principal life goal and their ownership of land as incompatible with a happy marriage. Owning land brings power, and the fact of women having power disturbs social order, stability, and tranquility. Many Ugandans, mostly men, have argued that women who own land are "big headed" and the only way to restore them to their proper size is to take away their land. Certain customary practices, like the giving of bride price and polygamy, reduce women's security on land, which is another way in which women are effectively denied their right to land. Bride price is increasingly viewed as making a woman the husband's property, nullifying any claims she might have to land and transferring her property rights to her husband." Even gifts to the wife and property she acquires individually are viewed as belongings of the husband. Upon customary divorce," wives are usually sent away from the home with no property at all.” Quite a cruel world the women live in!

The socio-economic position of women in general and their inability to access the economy has hindered women's right to own land. More women in Uganda are illiterate than men (55.1% of women compared to 36.5% of men). The total primary school enrollment is 45% for girls and 55% for boys, and it decreases to 35% at the university level.  Attitudes such as these are often expressed in the media, see, for example, a story written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, titled, Families Must Be Built on Love Not Laws, and run in the local daily newspaper, he says that "Women are perceived as property because among the Iteso [a tribe in Uganda] once bride price is paid for a woman, she and her offspring are her husband's belongings. A constitutional law expert Okumu Wengi quotes an Itesot man in the same story saying, 'I bought her, so whatever she has is mine. She does not own anything." Most customary divorce in Uganda, especially where bride wealth is given, consists of the return of the bride wealth by the woman's family to that of the man all. 

Land in Uganda is normally passed on through inheritance, traditionally through the male line from father to son. Traditional patrilineal descent remains especially dominant in the rural areas of Uganda, and is characterized by male control of decision-making about who will inherit and administer the estate, and preference for male over female heirs. Indeed, sons or other males (e.g., male clansmen) normally inherit any substantial property. This is true even though the customary heir of a female is another female. Women inherit land only in exceptional circumstances, like in the legal dissolution of marriage. 

All the above scenarios and explanations indicate the impracticability for women to own land in Uganda however this notion can be watered down with the role International Justice Mission (IJM) is playing. IJM has recorded a number of successes in resolving such land struggles that have deprived women the right at land ownership. 

IJM is a global Non- Governmental Organization, among whose mandate is to help the indigent people mostly the marginalized groups the orphans, widows, minors and the handicapped to see to it that justice is achievable for all. The vision to rescue thousands, protect millions, prove that justice for the poor is possible drives all the activities of the organization. IJM has had a tremendous victory in the area of land and is therefore in a position to help the women in Uganda to achieve justice of land ownership. With a campus Chapter at Uganda Christian University, the student community has also advanced the mandate of the organization through engaging in outreaches.   

IJM has had partnerships with the local authorities for example right from the district level, with the help of the local council chairman, resident district personnel and Magistrates Grade One and Two who have usually formed committees and seminars on the village level to educate the women about their rights to ownership of property and the procedures to go through to own the land for instance how to acquire a land title and in case of widows how to process papers to become an administrator or executor of such property.

The organization works hand in hand with the judicial system of Uganda to educate the people about the existence of laws that guard them against deprivation of ownership of land for instance in the Constitution of Uganda holds that all people have a right to land ownership under the recognized four land tenure systems which are freehold, leasehold, Mailo and customary. This right should not exclude the woman. It also provides that that land should only be taken by the government if it is within public interest and such persons who own that property should be duly compensated therefore women need to be aware of the existence of such laws.

It also works with other responsible land departments that will help in the provision of land titles and the certification process to ensure that they secure the legal and physical property ownership of the individual victims in this case, the indigent women and the widows who suffer the risk of land grabbers. 

  

IJM has recorded successes in stopping land grabbing in Mukono by instituting criminal procedings or involving private investigators through the formal criminal justice to ensure that the preparators are brought before the courts of law and to see to it that justice is achieved to the very last bit by ensuring that they are held accountable. In 2000, a reform project was formed Mukono which aimed to prevent, deter and respond to property grabbers. It also encouraged documentation by securing an effective estate administration.

IJM can also sensitize the women about the preventative measures of land issues for instance the formalization of a marriage, the need for their spouse to make a valid will clearly indicating who land ownership and who title has been transferred to.

Furthermore, the general public should be enlightened about property grabbing and should be made to gain confidence in the justice system so that they do not take the matter into their own hands this is because most women lack legal education and face a lot of issues due to the violation of their rights.

Conclusively, the success of IJM will advance the cause of equality to make sure the women and men have the same treatment in respect to land as the law explicitly lays it down in the statute books and decided cases. Women have right to own land in Uganda and any deprivation is a violation of the law.