Unravelling the Centrality of Tenure Security in Determining Resettlement Packages for Oil Refinery Displaced Persons in Uganda’s Albertine Graben

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of tenure security in defining resettlement packages for oil refinery displaced communities of the Kabaale parish. The parish is located in the Buseruka sub-county, Hoima district in western Uganda. Descriptive and explorative designs employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to enlist data from 48 displaced households as well as key informants. Customary land tenure is not fully acknowledged as legitimate, and thus customary landowners were not fairly treated as compared to those whose land was formally registered under freehold tenure. It was found that women and other secondary land rights owners were unfairly treated in the resettlement packages. We concluded that customary tenure security ought to be enhanced through the acquisition of certificates of customary ownership and that local communities should be sensitised to respect women’s land rights.