kinds of land conflicts experienced by the households in Uganda

According to findings of a 2008 household survey by Rugadya…et al for Ministry of Justice in
20 districts18, land disputes rank the highest among conflicts countrywide and are often the cause
of other disputes including family and domestic violence, assaults and murder. One of the major
conclusions of this survey was that land conflicts and disputes point to a lapse in land tenure
administration and management especially with regard to boundaries, land ownership and its
transmission, occupation, trespass, fraudulent transactions and succession wrangles.
Findings show that there is a county wide increase in land disputes, where the occurrence of land
conflicts at household level is (34.9%); with rural households accounting for (36%) of these
conflicts compared to urban households that take a share of (33%). Overall the most commonly
cited types of land conflicts experienced by the households surveyed are ‘boundary
discrepancies’ (32.1%), land ownership wrangles (18.8%), inheritance and succession wrangles
(15.5%) and illegal land occupation (12.3%). A significant 20% of all land disputes that occur
are not reported to any dispute resolution institution, given the severity of land conflicts, this is a
precursor to social tensions that could erupt into violence.
However, (59.9%) of land disputes are resolved at the institution of first call. In terms of regional
distribution, the eastern region had the highest dispute prevalence of (48%) and lowest was in
western Uganda at (15.4%). Child headed households reported a comparatively higher
prevalence of land conflicts (41.3%). ReadMore