Standard Operating Procedures for Managing Expropriation and Compensation in Uganda

Uganda’s processes of expropriation and compensation are known to be slow and to result in undercompensating landowners while causing government high budget costs. All this is attributed to at least 3 factors. Firstly, the legal framework for the payment of compensation for expropriations is outdated. While the Constitution (1995) and the Land Act (1998) to some extent attempted to address this issue, the primary instrument in this area is the Land Acquisition Act (1965), which is outdated and inadequate for handling new developments in land policy, such as legal recognition of customary tenure; much of which is undocumented, or secondary and subsidiary rights, such as rights of access to pastoral and forestry resources. Secondly, current valuation practices tend to result in the undervaluation of land, as systems for the valuation of rights that are not easily monetized or registered, such as pastures and access to forest resources, are poorly developed. Thirdly, weaknesses in systems of governance and corruption often lead to underpayment and/or prolonged delays in the payment of compensation. To address the above problems, IGAD considered developing a standard operating procedure to ensure transparency and accountability in land expropriation process.