whether with or without the sanction of the Governor General in Council, such act or thing
may or shall be done, subject to any directions of the Secretary of State, by the Governor;
(b) where the said enactment provides for any notification in any Gazette, such notification
shall be made in the official Gazette of Uganda; (e) any land whereof possession is taken
under the provisions of the said enactment shall vest absolutely in the Governor for the time
being, or, in a trustee or trustees for His majesty, to be appointed by the Secretary of State,
who shall have power by order to remove any trustee and appoint any new trustee or trustees.
The Protectorate laws made it clear that the land tenure regimes in the Ugandan
Protectorate would be those crafted in Britain and applied first in other colonies such
as India. They would then, without much modification, be transplanted into, and
superimposed on the African customary laws in the Ugandan Protectorate. The
transplant of laws from Britain to Uganda in the described manner created a
problematic situation to Ugandans—how would they be applied contemporaneously
with the traditional laws in the Protectorate? Attempts by the British colonialists to
provide for the modification clause in such laws never addressed any concerns of the
Ugandan natives. Those laws remained the oppressive and discriminatory laws
crafted within the ambit of the ideology of patriarchy in Britain. Contemporary
Ugandan policy and legal principles on sustainable development should, therefore,
be viewed with suspicion because not so much has been done to remove the western
ideology of patriarchy contestations in the Ugandan land laws as they operate today.
At best, such constitutional principles should be viewed as intended to attract the
attention of the Western investor communities in the country, while the situation on
the ground in regard to access to land and soil rights remains more or less the same as
it was more than a century ago. That situation makes it difficult for the African
economies in general to receive and integrate modern economic concepts such as
sustainable development and implement them with ease in their national land law
regimes.
Implementation of the concept of sustainable development, however, is side-lined
by the inroads of the western patriarchy ideology in Uganda’s policies and its tenets
cannot be specifically realized. The desired scenario remains to undo the colonial
policies and laws and re-enact them using the lenses of African feminism, which has
a motherly affection for the Africans. Repackaging the land policy and legislative
norms in African countries is capable of perfecting the land law and hence soil rights
regime, and bring about the yearned for sustainable development, which as of now
remains only a paper provision. The desire to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of
persons in Uganda to land and soil rights and the need to utilize them in a sustainable
manner is expressed in the Constitution of Uganda, 1995. Principle XXVII of the
National Objectives and Directives of State Policy provides:
(i) [T]he State shall promote sustainable development and public awareness of the need to
manage land, air and water resources in a balanced and sustainable manner for the present
and future generations. (ii) The utilization of the natural resources of Uganda shall be
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
147
may or shall be done, subject to any directions of the Secretary of State, by the Governor;
(b) where the said enactment provides for any notification in any Gazette, such notification
shall be made in the official Gazette of Uganda; (e) any land whereof possession is taken
under the provisions of the said enactment shall vest absolutely in the Governor for the time
being, or, in a trustee or trustees for His majesty, to be appointed by the Secretary of State,
who shall have power by order to remove any trustee and appoint any new trustee or trustees.
The Protectorate laws made it clear that the land tenure regimes in the Ugandan
Protectorate would be those crafted in Britain and applied first in other colonies such
as India. They would then, without much modification, be transplanted into, and
superimposed on the African customary laws in the Ugandan Protectorate. The
transplant of laws from Britain to Uganda in the described manner created a
problematic situation to Ugandans—how would they be applied contemporaneously
with the traditional laws in the Protectorate? Attempts by the British colonialists to
provide for the modification clause in such laws never addressed any concerns of the
Ugandan natives. Those laws remained the oppressive and discriminatory laws
crafted within the ambit of the ideology of patriarchy in Britain. Contemporary
Ugandan policy and legal principles on sustainable development should, therefore,
be viewed with suspicion because not so much has been done to remove the western
ideology of patriarchy contestations in the Ugandan land laws as they operate today.
At best, such constitutional principles should be viewed as intended to attract the
attention of the Western investor communities in the country, while the situation on
the ground in regard to access to land and soil rights remains more or less the same as
it was more than a century ago. That situation makes it difficult for the African
economies in general to receive and integrate modern economic concepts such as
sustainable development and implement them with ease in their national land law
regimes.
Implementation of the concept of sustainable development, however, is side-lined
by the inroads of the western patriarchy ideology in Uganda’s policies and its tenets
cannot be specifically realized. The desired scenario remains to undo the colonial
policies and laws and re-enact them using the lenses of African feminism, which has
a motherly affection for the Africans. Repackaging the land policy and legislative
norms in African countries is capable of perfecting the land law and hence soil rights
regime, and bring about the yearned for sustainable development, which as of now
remains only a paper provision. The desire to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of
persons in Uganda to land and soil rights and the need to utilize them in a sustainable
manner is expressed in the Constitution of Uganda, 1995. Principle XXVII of the
National Objectives and Directives of State Policy provides:
(i) [T]he State shall promote sustainable development and public awareness of the need to
manage land, air and water resources in a balanced and sustainable manner for the present
and future generations. (ii) The utilization of the natural resources of Uganda shall be
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
147