Uganda National Roads Authority will this\nfinancial year return up to 4,000 land titles to persons affected by road works\nacross the country, the head of land acquisition at UNRA, William Matovu, has\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNRA, which keeps the titles to avoid land owners\nobstructing works because of their land ownership, has held some of the titles\nfor over four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officials led by Executive Director, Allen\nKagina, were appearing before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory\nAuthorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to answer queries in the Auditor\nGeneral\u2019s report for the Financial Year 2017\/2018 on Tuesday, 16 July 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They told the committee that UNRA had returned\n1,118 out of the 5,258 titles to their rightful owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matovu told members that 293 titles are ready to\nbe returned to their owners immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have been working closely with the Ministry\nof Lands, Housing and Urban Development and within 12 months, all the remaining\n4,000 titles will be returned,\u201d said Matovu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the Ministry of Lands, Housing and\nUrban Development has assigned eight staff to UNRA offices to support the process.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis team will be responsible for plotting,\nprocessing and approving bid plans from UNRA,\u201d said Matovu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers further learned that there are 13 law\nsuits against UNRA over land titles, which suits, the Director Legal Affairs at\nUNRA, Mary Kuteesa, said the Authority cannot defend itself in court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we have done is that for all those that\nhave sued us, we have tried to settle or return the titles under MoUs even when\nthey are sub divided,\u201d said Kuteesa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislators urged the roads body to expedite\nthe process of returning titles to the owners to avert further loss of public\nfunds in court cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon. Theodore Ssekikubo (NRM, Lwemiyaga) said\nthat delay in return of titles affects the livelihoods of those whose titles\nwere taken away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConcerns are arising that the titles risk\ngetting lost in the hands of UNRA and those affected have made losses in their\nbusinesses as they cannot secure loans using their titles,\u201d said Ssekikubo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon. David Abala (NRM, Ngora County) wondered why\nthe return of titles, which are ready, has to wait for a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnless there is another issue as to why you are\nkeeping them, these titles should be returned to the owners before 12 months.\nThese people need their titles back,\u201d said Abala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the MPs also demanded for an\nexplanation from UNRA Executive Director, Allen Kagina, over contingent\nliabilities owed by the road\u2019s agency totaling to Shs430 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The amount constitutes costs and damages paid by\nUNRA to plaintiffs who sued UNRA for compensation over land acquisition by\ngovernment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ag. Chairperson COSASE, Hon. Ibrahim Semujju\nNganda (FDC, Kiira Municipality) noted that the liabilities end up encroaching\ninto funds budgeted for planned activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He tasked Kagina to provide a schedule detailing all the court cases that UNRA is currently embroiled in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliamentary News<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Uganda National Roads Authority will this financial year return up to 4,000 land titles to persons affected by road works across the country, the head of land acquisition at UNRA, William Matovu, has said. UNRA, which keeps the titles to avoid land owners obstructing works because of their land ownership, has held some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":10104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n