Nabakooba suspends issuance of special land titles

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba addressing ministry officials during the staff meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister on August14, 2026. Photo | Courtesy .

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Judith Nabakooba, has suspended the issuance of special certificates of title, citing abuse of the process by the public.

Ms Nabakooba said people have been applying for special titles when their original certificates are with money lenders, relatives or lawyers.

“People have been asking for specials when their original certificates are with money lenders, lawyers or relatives. Somebody goes to police and claims a title is lost and then they apply for special,” she said.

She added; “Others because they are administrators of an estate, they don’t even dig deep to see if that estate has ever been dealt with, so you find they want the ministry to do titles on top of other titles which were put in those specific places when the deceased were still around.”

Speaking to Daily Monitor today, August 15, the Minister said the service will resume after the Ministry develops new and tougher guidelines.

“We need tougher guidelines. We gave ourselves until December because all stakeholders have to be engaged,” Ms Nabakooba said.

She added; “Let’s halt to save the confusion.”

In Uganda, a special certificate of title is a replacement land title issued by the Registrar of Titles when the original duplicate title is lost, destroyed, or badly damaged. It gives full legal proof of ownership just like the first title.

Ms Nabakooba said continued issuance without adequate verification was fuelling land disputes and creating opportunities for land grabbers to deprive legitimate owners of their property.

The Minister warned Lands officers against issuing special certificates during the suspension, saying offenders will be arrested.

“You have slept on your duty on the issue of special certificates. When you continue issuing them, I will send the police and they will arrest you,” Ms Nabakooba warned.

The pronouncement was made on August 14 during a lands staff meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.

Ms Nabakooba cited cases in Kyengera, Wakiso District, and Kabula in Lyantonde District, where special certificates had reportedly been issued despite existing claims and titles on the same land.

The Minister said the ministry needs to pause and review the process.

“We need to sit and have a clear guideline on how to handle that issue,” she said, adding that many cases were coming from the Buganda region.

She revealed that creation of special titles on already registered land was placing pressure on ministry leadership.

“I receive distress calls from my bosses. You are putting special titles on existing titles, which makes my work very hard,” she said.

The directive comes amid persistent complaints about land grabbing, overlapping titles and double titling, which she said undermine public confidence in the land administration system. Ms Nabakooba also directed officers to clear the backlog of land transactions by December and warned against absenteeism.

“I have been receiving complaints about officers who report to work only once a week. You disappear a lot. Every time you give excuses,” she said.

The Minister further cautioned officers on poor customer care, saying some shout at clients and create an intimidating environment.

She directed officials to remove brokers operating around Ministry Zonal Offices.

“Let’s try to get brokers out of our offices. They even start blackmailing our names, posing as officials from the ministry and taking money from people,” she said.

Ms Nabakooba also directed staff to wear name tags and ministry shirts to help the public distinguish genuine employees from brokers.

She further directed technical officers to enter titles completed under the Systematic Land Adjudication and Certification programme into the land information system and ensure distribution to beneficiaries. She asked officials to engage contractors to provide outstanding data to complete the programme.

“This is a World Bank loan and we have to pay back the money, so let’s use it properly to finish the services they were asked for,” she said.

State Minister for Lands, Ms Harriet Ntabaazi, said land grabbing, overlapping titles, double titling and family conflicts remain major challenges in the lands sector. She also cautioned officers against soliciting money from clients, saying such practices damage the ministry's reputation.