Parliament has criticised the Ministry of Lands and Housing over delays in processing land titles and cases of double titling, saying the problems are affecting planning and the delivery of public projects.
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (Central) raised the concerns during an interface with officials from the ministry who had appeared to respond to queries raised in Auditor General reports.
The MPs were particularly concerned about findings showing that processing a land title could take between 14 and 1,419 days, despite the prescribed period being 10 days.
Kyotera Woman MP Fortunate Nantongo questioned why the ministry takes so long to process land titles, particularly in areas where projects under the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Programme (UgIFT) were being implemented.
“Why does it take the ministry more days to process a land title and again we see so many more double titling?” Nantongo asked.
The MPs said delays in issuing land titles could affect government planning and the implementation of development projects because institutions often require secure land ownership documents before projects can proceed.
Nantongo urged ministry officials to improve their performance and ensure that land titles are processed within the required period.
She said the ministry needed to address the challenges affecting its services because delays in issuing titles could have wider consequences for government programmes and landowners.
The ministry officials, led by Permanent Secretary Docus Okalany, attributed some of the delays to incomplete documentation submitted by applicants.
Okalany said some applicants take time to provide the documents required to complete the processing of their titles, while other delays were linked to challenges with the ministry’s systems and internet connectivity.
“Most of the titles delayed are because of improper documentation and delays in producing these documents,” Okalany said.
However, the explanation did not satisfy the MPs, who said the ministry should find ways of dealing with the challenges instead of allowing applications to remain pending for years.
PAC Central Chairperson and Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba Oshabe questioned how a land title could take as long as five years to process when officials responsible for the service were being paid salaries.
“You take five years to process a title and yet people are in your offices drawing a salary?” Nsamba asked.
The committee also questioned the ministry over land titles linked to projects implemented under the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Programme.
Ministry officials said most of the land titles required for the UgIFT projects had been processed and that the projects had proceeded without interruption.
“Mr chairperson, the majority of the titles under UgIFT were processed and the projects proceeded without any interruption,” the officials told the committee.
Nsamba, however, urged the officials to return to the committee better prepared with clear facts and figures on the ministry’s performance.
He said the ministry needed to strengthen its systems and improve service delivery, particularly in the processing of land titles.
The Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Programme (UIFTP) is a government programme supported by the World Bank and implemented with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
It was designed to improve the delivery of services by strengthening local government financing and supporting investments such as the construction and equipping of seed secondary schools and the construction and upgrading of health facilities.
The MPs said efficient processing of land titles was important not only for individual landowners but also for government planning and the implementation of public infrastructure projects.
