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The Politics of Land Reform in Uganda

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The Politics of Land Reform in Uganda THE POLITICS OF LAND REFORM IN UGANDA BY Copyright 2013 Ryan Gibb Submitted to the graduate degree program in Political Science and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. Hannah Britton ________________________________ Dr. Erik Herron ________________________________ Dr. Garth Myers ________________________________ Dr. Ebenezer Obadare ________________________________ Dr. Brent Steele Date Defended: March 6, 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Ryan Gibb certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE POLITICS OF LAND REFORM IN UGANDA _______________________________ Chairperson Dr. Hannah Britton Date Approved: March 6, 2013 ii Abstract When do citizens obey the law? What determines when people conform to or dismiss legal/institutional arrangements? Citizens pursue economic interests, and governments capture the productive potential of their citizenry through institutional incentives. Alternatively, governments incentivize that same potential into the informal economy with institutional failures. Savvy citizens know when they can prosper in formal and informal markets, and they choose between those markets to protect their interests. They evaluate risks and rewards, and they choose. Protecting property – whither government or non-government protection - is foundational to both types of markets, and can determine citizens’ choice. In this study, successive governments in Uganda have attracted mass participation in productive economic sectors, and they have also repelled investment. My longitudinal study investigates land laws and policies throughout Uganda’s colonial and post-colonial history in order to distill lessons about when citizens partake in formal market institutions. Citizens adopt laws when the governments make it in their interest to adopt them, and they shirk new institutional arrangements when those arrangements are too costly. However, because secure property rights are so fundamental to market transactions, Ugandans around the country create their own local institutions that are accessible, efficient, cheap, and that reflect community relationships. While these land relationships have problems, they illustrate a fundamental demand for secure property rights. Establishing and defining property rights are political choices, they go through political processes, and they subject to the influence of politically powerful groups. The workings of these informal institutions, and the relative failure of government programs, provide lessons for political scientists, policy experts, and Ugandan legislators. iii Acknowledgements Though it is impossible to properly thank everyone that helped me in this project, I will acknowledge groups and individuals whose assistance was indispensable. I received amazing support from my Ugandan friends, colleagues, and research fellows. Francis and Jude Ssengendo both invited me into their lives and helped me to navigate Uganda. Patrick Muganga helped me to interpret land law and identify potential areas of interest. This project would have been impossible without the research support of community leaders and translators, so I would also like to thank Darlyne Komukama, Moses Okello, Mark Ssonko, Alan Katamba, and Richard Oneka. My “brain trust” at the University of Kansas included a small dissertation-writing group. Pedro dos Santos and Hilary Hungerford were the heart of this group, and I am grateful for their help. At the University of Kansas, I collaborated with Patrick Asingo and Ken Aikin as Africanist colleagues in Political Science. I also owe Muhajir Makame, Adrienne Birt, Kate von Achen, Becca Schwartz, Shawn Malone, and Keke Pounds a great debt for helping me to develop my research in Uganda and in refining this manuscript. I benefited from immense institutional support during my writing and fieldwork. Makerere University, University of Kansas, and Baker University provided assistance as I conducted research and wrote this manuscript. My fieldwork was primarily funded by Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program, with supplemental funding coming from the National Science foundation. Individuals make these institutions work, so I want to especially thank Patrick Mulindwa and Abby Sebina-Zziwa from Makerere University and Leah Nawegulo at the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology for their help. I would also like to thank Charles Bankart at the University of Kansas for his guidance in securing my Fulbright iv support. John Kennedy and other participants at the University of Kansas’s Hall Center Globalization Workshop helped me to contextualize my project and deepen my research. Fiona Yap and Paul Johnson at the University of Kansas were formative in my PhD training, and I owe them a thanks for guiding my focus and study in the early stages of this project. My dissertation committee at the University of Kansas provided constant support and advice through the course of my fieldwork. Erik Herron, Garth Myers, Brent Steele, and Ebenezer Obadare were outstanding mentors, and their insights helped me to bring clarity to the project. My dissertation chairperson, Hannah Britton, worked tirelessly to help me see the forest as well as the trees. She pushed me to make this manuscript much crisper and (relatively) accessible. Finally, I’d like to thank my parents, Dick and Linda Gibb, for their love, support, and understanding as I conducted fieldwork abroad. v Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Tables CHAPTER ONE – PROPERTY RIGHTS IN UGANDA .............................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Question and Study ............................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Case Study Selection .......................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Methods: An Empirical Study Using Rational Choice ....................................................... 10 1.5 Overview of the Argument ................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER TWO - PROPERTY RIGHTS AND RATIONAL CHOICE .................................... 17 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Rational Choice Approach to Land Law Design ................................................................ 18 2.3 Politics of Property Rights .................................................................................................. 23 2.4. Politics and Laws in Africa ................................................................................................ 27 2.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER THREE - BARGAINING IN THE 1900 UGANDA AGREEEMENT .................... 31 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Background: Political Unrest in Pre-Colonial Buganda ..................................................... 32 3.3 Interests of the Buganda Kingdom and the British Colonial Government ......................... 37 3.4 The 1900 Uganda Agreement: Winners and Losers within New and Old Institutions ...... 43 3.5 Outcomes: Adjudication, Allotment, and Implementation ................................................. 48 3.6 Conclusion: The Buganda Kingdom and the British at the Turn of the Century ............... 54 CHAPTER FOUR – EVOLVING INSTITUTIONS: LAND LAW IN THREE REGIMES ....... 58 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 58 4.2 Uganda Land Law under the British Colonial Government ............................................... 61 4.2.1 Background to the British Colonial Government Changes.......................................... 61 4.2.2 Buganda and British Interests ...................................................................................... 62 4.2.3 Strategies of Colonial Government .............................................................................. 64 4.2.4 Outcomes in British Colonial Administration: Populist Policy ................................... 66 4.3 Land Law under Milton Obote: A Clash of Interests ......................................................... 68 4.3.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 68 4.3.2 Milton Obote’s Consolidation of the Uganda State: Interests ..................................... 71 4.3.3 Strategies in Obote’s Land Policy................................................................................ 72 4.3.4 Outcomes: Economic Decline and Political Upheaval ................................................ 75 4.4 Property Rights under Idi Amin: Insecurity in Chaotic Uganda ........................................ 77 4.4.1 Background to the 1975 Land Reform Decree ............................................................ 78 4.4.2 Competing Parties in an Unstable State ......................................................................
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