By Ben Musanje
Lands Minister Judith Nalule Nabakooba has defended the Government’s three-month suspension of the routine issuance of Special Certificates of Title, telling Parliament that the temporary measure is necessary to address growing concerns over fraud, double titling and irregular land transactions.
Nabakooba said the suspension is not an abolition of Special Certificates of Title, but a temporary administrative intervention aimed at reviewing the procedures, controls and institutional safeguards governing their issuance.
She told Parliament that the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development took the decision following increasing complaints from members of the public, registered proprietors, financial institutions, traditional institutions, administrators of estates and other stakeholders.
The complaints centre on circumstances in which Special Certificates of Title have allegedly been obtained or issued despite the continued existence, custody or use of original duplicate certificates of title.
According to Nabakooba, some of the reported cases involve original titles allegedly being held by money lenders, advocates, financial institutions, relatives, administrators of estates or other people with legitimate interests in the land, while attempts were made to obtain Special Certificates.
The Ministry has also received complaints involving double titling, overlapping interests, fraudulent statutory declarations, manipulation of succession processes and irregular dealings in land belonging to deceased persons.
In some cases, she said, land was subsequently transferred on the strength of Special Certificates issued in circumstances that required further scrutiny.
Nabakooba warned that such practices threaten the integrity of Uganda’s land registration system, given the importance of certificates of title in establishing registered proprietary interests.
“A Certificate of title is not merely an administrative document,” she told Parliament, noting that such documents are relied upon by citizens, courts, banks, investors, purchasers and other institutions when making decisions involving substantial economic value.
The Minister said Government therefore has a duty to ensure that the process through which a replacement certificate acquires the same legal efficacy as the original is protected from fraud, abuse, administrative error and manipulation.
However, she stressed that the intervention should not be interpreted as a declaration that Special Certificates of Title are inherently problematic.
Instead, the concern is with abuse of the procedure.
The temporary suspension is intended to give Government time to identify weaknesses in the existing system, investigate reported abuses, strengthen verification and due-diligence mechanisms and establish safeguards that protect both registered proprietors and innocent third parties.
Nabakooba said genuine landowners who have actually lost or destroyed their duplicate certificates will continue to require access to the statutory mechanism for obtaining replacements.
She said the Government’s responsibility is to strike a balance between protecting landowners from fraud and ensuring that legitimate proprietors can access the services they are entitled to under the law.
The Minister said the three-month intervention will also allow Government to work with relevant investigative agencies, the Judiciary, legal professionals, financial institutions, traditional institutions, civil society and the public to develop a stronger and more transparent Special Certificate regime.
She assured Parliament that investigations will be guided by evidence and that corrective action will be taken where wrongdoing is established.
Where mistakes have occurred, she said, they will be corrected according to the law, while procedures found to be inadequate will be strengthened.
Public officers found responsible for misconduct will face appropriate disciplinary or legal processes, while private individuals who deliberately manipulate the system will also be held accountable.
At the same time, Nabakooba said Government will ensure that complaints from innocent citizens affected by irregularities are handled fairly and expeditiously.
She stressed that the review is particularly important because land remains one of the most valuable assets owned by Ugandan families.
For many citizens, land represents a lifetime of savings, a home, an inheritance, collateral for a business and security for children and future generations.
The Government, she said, cannot therefore treat allegations concerning manipulation of certificates of title as ordinary administrative complaints.
At the same time, the Ministry must ensure that stronger controls do not prevent genuine proprietors who have lost their certificates from accessing the statutory mechanism designed to protect them.
Nabakooba said the review will seek to reconcile security with accessibility, due diligence with efficiency and administrative oversight with the statutory independence of the Registrar.
Ultimately, the Government wants to restore confidence in the land registration system and ensure that every parcel of land has one legitimate chain of title.
The Minister said the objective is to ensure that the Special Certificate system remains available to genuine proprietors while closing loopholes that could allow fraudulent actors to use replacement certificates to undermine legitimate land ownership.
“No Ugandan should lose his or her land because another person was able to manipulate the process for obtaining a Special Certificate of Title,” Nabakooba said. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
