Informal Land Delivery Processes in Kampala, Uganda Summary of findings and policy implications Emmanuel Nkurunziza International Development Department School of Public Policy The University of Birmingham England Informal Land Delivery Processes in African Cities in Informal Land Delivery Processes Makerere University Faculty of Technology Department of Surveying P.O Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda Policy Brief - 5 Contents Preface 1 Introduction 4 - Policy implications Context 8 - The pre-colonial socio-political context - The colonial environment - The post-colonial context Land tenure 12 - Pre-colonial land tenure - Land tenure changes in the colonial era - Post-colonial formal institutions of land tenure Kampala 16 - City evolution and development dynamics - Formal mechanisms of land access Land delivery 23 - Increased land demand and commercialisation - Access to land by disadvantaged groups - Acquiring land through purchase - motivations and processes - Acquiring land through inheritance - custom and legal provisions - The strengths and weaknesses of various land delivery mechanisms - Nature of the institutions that underpin and regulate informal land access Policy implications 32 Appendix 37 Footnotes 38 Publications 40 International Development Department School of Public Policy, J G Smith Building, The University of Birmingham,, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Website: www.idd.bham.ac.uk Preface Informal land delivery processes in African cities Why research informal land delivery able to get access to land to manage the construction processes? of their own houses for little or no payment, through ‘squatting’ or similar arrangements. Following The colonial powers in Africa introduced urban land research in the 1960s and 1970s, there was a feeling administration systems that were modelled on the that the processes of ‘squatting’ and the allocation systems of their home countries. The extent to which of customary land by legitimate rights holders were indigenous tenure systems were understood, fairly well understood. Upgrading projects of the recognised and incorporated varied from colony to 1970s were designed and implemented on this basis. colony, but it was generally believed that only a formal system based on a European model could Most countries have now reversed some of the most provide a framework for urban development and extreme versions of state intervention, but other protect the rights of urban property owners (who at components remain despite serious implementation that time were expatriates). These land failures. There is considerable doubt about whether administration systems, which were inherited at recent attempts to improve land management will independence, are governed by formal rules set out be any more successful than previous approaches. in legislation and administrative procedures. In part, pessimism about the prospects for efficient However, the legislative provisions and the and equitable urban land management arises from administrative systems that were established to the continued lack of resources and capacity in implement them proved quite unable to cope with government, but it also stems from doubts about the rapid urban growth that occurred after the appropriateness of the principles and concepts independence. on which recent urban land policies have been based. The state-led approaches to development favoured Much research on land and property in African in the 1960s and 1970s were associated with large- towns and cities assumes that the state has both the scale public intervention in urban land delivery duty and the capacity to take on a major systems. However, the cost of implementation and interventionist role in land management. It compliance has been too high for low-income concentrates on documenting and explaining the countries, cities and inhabitants. At their extreme, failures (and more rarely successes) of state land and property markets were perceived as interventions. Despite their significant role in ineffective or exploitative. These views were providing land for urban development, there has translated into attempts to de-marketise land by been relatively little recent in-depth research on nationalisation and/or government control over land processes of informal land delivery or the institutions market transactions. Whether or not the concepts (rules and norms of behaviour) that enable them to on which such land policies were based were sound, operate and that govern the relationships between limited capacity at national and municipal levels the actors involved. To improve policy and practice, ensured their failure. Administered land supply has a better understanding is needed of how formal and very rarely met demand and attempts to regulate informal systems operate, interact and are evolving. and register all transactions in land and property have been universally unsuccessful. As a result, most land Aims of the research for urban development has been supplied through The aim of the project was to improve understanding alternative channels. of informal land delivery processes in six African In the early years of rapid rural-urban migration cities and their relationships with formal land many households, including poor households, were administrative systems. It analysed the 1 K a m kamPala a l a characteristics of informal land markets and delivery The comparative research project systems Coordinated by Carole Rakodi of the University of to increase understanding of the institutions that Birmingham and Clement Leduka of the National underpin and regulate transactions and disputes University of Lesotho, studies were undertaken in in land six medium-sized cities in Anglophone Africa, in all to assess the strengths and weaknesses of of which informal land delivery systems are alternative land delivery mechanisms, especially important, but which also typify different colonial with respect to the extent to which they enable and post-colonial policies, legal frameworks, the poor and other vulnerable groups (especially governance arrangements and experiences. The women) to access land with secure tenure, and cities and the local researchers were: to identify and explore implications for policy. Eldoret, Kenya Rose Musyoka, Department of Physical Planning, Government of Kenya Enugu, Nigeria Cosmas Uche Ikejiofor, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria Gaborone, Botswana Faustin Kalabamu, Department of Architecture and Planning, and Siamsang Morolong, Department of Law, University of Botswana Kampala, Uganda Emmanuel Nkurunziza, Department of Surveying, Makerere University Lusaka, Zamba Leonard Chileshe Mulenga, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Zambia Maseru, Lesotho Clement Leduka, Department of Geography, National University of Lesotho The aims of the project and the methodological The research was funded by the UK Department approach were jointly developed by the researchers. for International Development. DFID supports Findings and policy issues were discussed at policies, programmes and projects to promote workshops in each of the cities, to obtain feedback international development. It provided funds for this from relevant stakeholders and make a contribution study as part of that objective but the views and to current debates about land policy and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. administration in each of the countries studied. The research teams generally identified some of the policy implications of their findings rather than making detailed recommendations, because the researchers all believe that policy formulation and legislative change should be negotiated processes involving all the stakeholders in land management. 2 K a m kamPala a l a The project in Kampala and provide me with the information I needed. To them all, I am eternally grateful. Finally, many thanks Uganda was included in the study as an example of to all those individuals who participated in the policy an East African country that was a British dissemination workshop held in Kampala on March protectorate, in particular one in which British 24th, 2004. colonial administration and subsequent post-colonial governments altered the powers of existing traditional Following the workshop, a full report of the study authorities, which nevertheless have remained strong. was published as Nkurunziza E. (2004) Informal Uganda also presents an example of those African Land Delivery Processes and Access to Land for countries whose post-colonial history has been the Poor in Kampala, Uganda, Birmingham: characterised by major political and economic crises University of Birmingham, School of Public Policy, that have impacted on the state’s ability to formulate Informal Land Delivery Processes in African Cities and implement coherent land policies. Like most Working Paper 6 (ISBN No. 0 7044 2253 0, other past attempts at land reform, current see also www.idd.bham.ac.uk/research/ endeavours to streamline the ownership and use of researchprojs.htm land, as specified in the Land Act, 1998, are For further information contact Dr Emmanuel registering little progress. Nkurunziza, E-mail [email protected] The research was carried out by Emmanuel Nkurunziza of Makerere University, Department of Surveying with the assistance of a research team comprising John Berch Barugahare (research associate) and research assistants: Eva Gakumba, Martha Nyakato, Bernard Baitwababo, Sumini Nansubuga, Apollo Makumbi and Adrine Atwine. I am deeply grateful to