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Gen Saleh demands probe into Kampala land ownership

Gen Salim Saleh, the National Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation speaking at a recent state function in Gulu (Photo/Courtesy)

Kampala, Uganda: President Museveni’s brother, Gen Caleb Akandwanaho, popularly known as Salim Saleh, has called for an urgent and well-funded national study to establish the true ownership of land in Kampala, warning that rampant speculation, administrative opacity, and institutional mismanagement are crippling Uganda’s ability to harness land as a productive economic asset.

Speaking virtually from Gulu at the fifth edition of the Musevenomics Conference held last week in Kampala, Gen Saleh, who is also the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) National Coordinator, said he is partnering with land governance expert, Professor John Kigula, to initiate a thorough land audit of the capital city.

“Everybody thinks I own half of Kampala, when in reality I own only about two acres, maximum,” he. “The question of who owns land in Kampala is a very serious one. It must be investigated, studied, and documented with evidence.”

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Gen Saleh confirmed that Kigula had already prepared an advisory note proposing the study, and fundraising efforts are underway to operationalize the research.

Kampala’s Land Confusion, Crisis

Kampala’s land ownership is riddled with complications ranging from overlapping titles and informal tenure to conflicting claims between the Uganda Land Commission, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Buganda Kingdom, and private landlords. The Ministry of Lands estimates that less than 20% of Uganda’s land is formally registered.

In Kampala, where urban expansion has pushed up land values, even titled plots are often contested. A 2021 Global Land Tool Network survey revealed that over 60% of residents in the city’s informal settlements lack legal tenure, leaving them vulnerable to evictions and economic exclusion.

“If land is a distorted factor of production, then it distorts everything else — housing, infrastructure, industry, investment,” Saleh said. “We can’t talk about stimulus or growth if we don’t know who owns the land where that growth must happen.”

Gen Saleh also criticized state institutions like the Uganda Land Commission, National Forestry Authority (NFA), and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) for hoarding land “in trust” while failing to ensure its productive use. He said these idle lands, particularly in northern Uganda, have become hotspots of tension with local communities.

“Sometimes it is these very agencies that create land conflicts. They are supposed to protect the land, but they don’t even know how to use it well,” he said, pointing to over 4 million acres currently held under conservation status.

He called for a national dialogue to assess how to balance environmental preservation with productive land utilization.

Kapeka Inquiry

Gen Saleh revealed that the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) recently queried him about how he acquired land in Kapeka, home to the Namunkekera Industrial Estate, a flagship OWC project. “Thankfully, I had already documented everything — ownership, history, usage. But imagine being asked how you came to own land,” he remarked.

He urged the Musevenomics platform to spearhead the development of a national “land use balance sheet” to map land ownership, utility, and productivity across the four major tenures, freehold, leasehold, mailo, and customary.

“Land is where minerals are, where factories sit, where people live. If it stays distorted, we won’t achieve even ten-fold growth,” Gen Saleh warned, arguing that land reform must now take centre stage in Uganda’s economic strategy, just as security and privatization did in previous decades.

Kampala’s current land market remains chaotic, governed by a patchwork of colonial-era mailo land laws, the 1998 Land Act, and the Registration of Titles Act. Public institutions often operate without clear land documentation, which has encouraged encroachment, land grabbing, and litigation.

Saleh concluded by urging future Musevenomics editions to be hosted in Gulu, citing its calm environment. He also stressed that this year’s conference report must provide concrete answers to the land question if Uganda is to unlock its next economic growth phase.

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