KAMPALA, UGANDA – In a significant and proactive effort to safeguard its property, the Church of Uganda has received nearly 4,000 land titles from the government. The move is the result of a nationwide mass land registration exercise launched to formalize ownership and protect vast church holdings from persistent land grabbers and disputes.
The initiative was officially launched in June 2024 by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, following years of legal battles and a growing number of cases where church land was illegally taken. Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba stated that many of the disputes stemmed from verbally donated land, a common practice in the past where parishioners or chiefs would grant land to the church without formal documentation. After the death of the donors, their relatives would often claim the land back, leading to protracted conflicts.
Minister Nabakooba explained that the government’s role was to provide the technical expertise and legal framework to help the church secure its assets. “I realised that most of the Church land with issues was donated by devotees verbally. After their death, family members turned against the church claiming no donation was done,” she said. The process involves identifying and titling all church land, whether it is for churches, schools, hospitals, or farms.
The nationwide exercise, which has seen titles distributed to leaders in their respective regions, is a direct response to high-profile cases of land grabbing that have plagued the church. A particularly jarring incident occurred in 2020 with the demolition of a 40-year-old Anglican church in Ndeeba, a Kampala suburb, which was the result of a long-standing land dispute. The incident highlighted the vulnerability of the church’s properties and the urgent need for proper legal documentation.
The Church of Uganda, which is one of the country’s largest non-state landowners, has praised the government’s support. Archbishop Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu acknowledged that the lack of titles had made church properties susceptible to encroachment. The new titles will not only provide legal protection but will also allow the church to better plan and utilize its land for social and economic projects, such as commercial farming, to generate revenue for its mission and operations.
While the titling process is ongoing, the government and church leaders are urging all Ugandans, particularly those with customary land, to follow this example and register their property. The initiative is a clear signal of the government’s commitment to land reform and to helping institutions and individuals secure their assets against illegal and fraudulent claims.
