By Samuel Ssebuliba and Ritah Kemigisa:
The ministry of lands has come out to clarify on the proposed constitutional amendment in respect to private acquisition.
Under the constitutional amendment bill that is before parliament’s legal affairs committee, government is considering emending article 26 to allow faster acquisition private land for development.
Speaking to media today lands minister Betty Amongi said the state already has power to acquire land under the land acquisition Act of 1965, but what has been lacking is expediting the process.
He said that under this new bill, all gazetted corridors will be compensated, but disagreements will be settled in courts of law to allow the project continue uninterrupted by injunctions.
in another related story………..
The proposed land amendment bill that has been tabled before parliament is an indicator that the land commission instituted to probe land matters has not been given enough time to make its investigations.
This is according to the opposition Democratic Party.
Speaking to journalists earlier today the acting secretary General Gerald Siranda said before tabling this bill, the land commission should have been allowed to first make its final report and also make its recommendations in regards to the land question.
Siranda says it’s possible the president is not happy with the operations of the commission since its attacking his people but he insists the commission should be given more time to finish its work.
Last year President Yoweri Museveni appointed a commission of inquiry headed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire to probe land matters in the country.
