Urban Planning Law in 
East Africa 
with special reference to Uganda 

GEORGE W. KANYEIHAMBA 
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala 
Visiting Fellow, School of Law, University of Warwick 1971-73 

Contents 

I. GENERAL BACKGROUND 

(a) Introduction 

(b) The need to analyse the problems of Urbanization 

(c) The city of Kampala - area, population and problems 

2. LAND LAW, POLICIES AND ATTITUDES 13 

(a) The systems of land tenure 13 

(b) Consequences of the colonial policies 17 

(c) Post-independence developments 18 

(d) The attitude of the inhabitants to urban land 19 

3. ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 

(a) Acquisition 

(b) Procedural rules 

(c) Compensation 

4. PLANNING 36 

(a) Development planning and land use planning 36 

22 

22 

25 

27 



2 Progress in Planning 

(b) The agencies of planning 

Introductory note 

Foreign aid and experts 

Local planners 

(c) The lawyers and planning 

(d) The history of urban land use planning in Uganda 

(e) The planning process 

(i) Procedure 

(ii) Representations and public participation 

(iii) The plan 

(iv) The implementation and enforcement of the plan 

5. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 

Appendix 77 

Selected Bibliography 

41 

41 

42 

49 

53 

57 

61 

61 

62 

65 

67 

73 

79 

Acknowledgements 

I AM indebted to Professor G. P. Wilson, the Chairman of the School of Law, University 
of Warwick, who originated the idea of this work, and having done so, put at my disposal 
the facilities of the School for its preparation. My gratitude and thanks go also to Professor 
J. P. W. B. McAuslan of the same School whose encouragement and guidance made its 
writing possible. I am also grateful to Mr. J. Read of the University of London for his 
scholarly comments on the first draft. I have received valuable assistance from the Editorial 
Board of Pergamon’s Progress in Planning and, in particular, from the co-editor, Mr. J. B. 
McLaughlin. My fellowship at Warwick was made possible by my university, Makerere, 
Kampala, who kindly granted me an extended leave of absence, and by the Commonwealth 
Scholarship Commission who so generously provided the necessary funds under their 
programme of Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarships. 

Acknowledgement is due to publishers, editors and authors whose works are referred to 
and accredited in the text, foot notes and bibliography. 

Finally, my lasting gratitude and appreciation go to my wife whose congenial 
companionship while I worked was such great comfort and who so patiently typed all the 
various drafts to the last. 

School of Law, 
University of Warwick GEORGE W. KANYEIHAMBA 



CHAPTER 1 

General Background 

(a) INTRODUCTION 

The city has always held a magnetic attraction for all manner of men. To urban dwellers, 
it is a home and a recreational centre. To rural dwellers, it is a market place for their 
produce and a shopping centre. To foreign visitors, it is a stopping place on their journey 
to the country and a source of souvenirs. To the unemployed and to the criminal, it offers 
work and opportunities. If it happens to be the administrative capital of the state, it is 
likely to contain the major political and economic institutions of the country and, 
invariably, major national policies are decided there. In almost all countries, the city 

is the centre and symbol of modernisation. One writer has described the main cities of 
Africa as: 

‘The intellectual and social capitals, the seats of governments, the main foci of political activity 
of all sorts, and the economic capitals of their respective countries, the major transport centres, 
the major financial nodes, and they contain the vast bulk of the newer market-oriented 
manufacturing establishments as well as a considerable share of the raw-material oriented plants. 
Indeed, one of the notable characteristics of many African countries is the rapid fading away of 
the signs of modernity as one leaves the urban centers.” 

Because of its fascination and attraction, the city finds itself with a large population 

whose problems it can hardly cope with. The ever-increasing urban population creates 
problems of planning, housing and unemployment. The population distribution affects 
political, social and economic policies of integration and increases the pressure on demand 
for urban land which in turn influences the costs and difficulties of providing an adequate 
social and economic infrastructure. Consequently, the laws which govern the city in its 
planning, social, economic and political affairs assume an importance of the greatest 

magnitude. If the city planners and administrators are to carry on an appreciable job of 
managing the city, it becomes imperative that these problems should be reduced in 

proportions by foresight and boldness. This is unlikely to be done unless the officials are 
given sufficient authority and are capable of formulating urban social legislation in a manner 
which permits imaginative practical policies related to realistic solutions. 

Since 1848 there have been some thirty major Acts of the British Parliament dealing with 
planning under the various headings of Planning, Housing, Health and Industrial 
Development. But the enactment of urban and planning legislation is a continuous process. 
Since the 1947 Act, Parliament has found it necessary to enact new laws, and to consolidate 
and amend the old ones. The 1962 Town and Country Planning Act was, for instance, 
followed by a reforming statute of 1968, and 1971 saw the enactment of yet another Act, 
this time of consolidation. Legislation has made planning one of the most specialised 

‘William A Hance, Population, Migration and Urbanization in Africa, p.209, Columbia U.P., 1970. 

3 



4 Progress in Planning 

branches of English Law which is almost exclusively governed by statute. The fact that most 
other branches of English law have been left to evolve largely under the principles of 
common law is an indication of the importance the English attach to the natural resource 
of land and its by-products, planning and housing. In all the developed countries, urban 
centres are increasingly being given priority in national policies. In most developing 
countries, however, this is not so, partly because of lack of finance and manpower and 
partly because priorities have continued to be the legitimisation of political power, problems 
of nation-building and the development of national economies. However, since the growth 
of urban population and its problems may have a direct bearing on these priorities, it is 
essential that urban legislation and planning should be considered if only as a means to an 
end. In discussing urban planning there are two objectives which need to be borne in mind, 
namely the economic development of the country as a whole and the control of land use 
for health, social and political reasons. It may be easy in the developed countries for public 
authorities to concentrate their energies and local funds on the control and development of 
urban land as a home for the inhabitants without seriously endangering the economic 

structure and policies of the state. Most of the basic economic institutions and industrial 
projects which the city attracts will have been well established, and any new ones are 
unlikely to have greater impact than those already experienced. Secondly, because of good 
and easy communications and transport services, the availability of funds and manpower, 
it is possible to site and direct new industries and factories outside the urban areas. These 
facts do not apply in the case of developing countries. Economic development and the 
control of land use are so closely inter-related that they must be given equal weight in 
planning. Consequently, no responsible public authority in a developing country can afford 
to isolate the two objectives. Professor McAuslan has observed that in the developed 
countries public authorities have begun to regard integration of land use with economic 
planning to be essential to development. Indeed, it was because this kind of integration was 
lacking in nineteenth-century England that the need to legislate for better housing and social 
amenities became a priority for later governments. Planning and housing are closely 
connected with land. Therefore the question of who owns and controls the use of land is a 
precondition of a realistic and feasible plan. The rights of private owners to develop their 
land, the power of public bodies to acquire compulsorily privately owned land for public 
use and the procedures which precede and predetermine these actions are matters which 
concern both lawyers and planners. Notwithstanding the availability of land and the 
existence of the powers to develop it, planning might still prove futile and unworkable 
unless there is an understanding of the social, economic and political pressures which 
exert influence on the community for which planning is designed. The basic unit in 
planning must thus be the human being and to understand him it is necessary to study the 

demography of the community and its surrounding environment. 

(b) THE NEED TO ANALYSE THE PROBLEMS OF 
URBANISATION 

Urban legislation and planning are likely to fail if the legislators and the planners lack 
the necessary information and knowledge about the problems they are supposed to solve. 
It follows that if they are to succeed, one of the predetermining factors must be the 
accessibility and wise interpretation of relevant information. There must be thorough 
investigations and empirical research into the appropriate areas of planning and housing. 
The causes and effect of the urban problems must be discovered and analysed according 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 5 

to the circumstances and environment prevailing in the particular area. The results must be 
made available to the policy-makers and the planners. The search for and the interpretation 
of this information are not the exclusive prerogative of town planners and administrators, or 
of the government, but must involve sociologists, politicians, lawyers, doctors and engineers, 
as well as the representatives of the communities most likely to be affected by any proposed 
laws and policies. Periodic consultations with and amongst these people are needed at every 
stage of proposing remedial measures. They must participate in the implementation of the 
policies as well as in the review of the existing laws. There have been cases in which the 
urban problems were clearly identified, the appropriate laws formulated; but when it came 
to implementation the policy failed because the authorities concerned did not appreciate 
the economic, customary and environmental conditions. Predictably, the field of planning 
and housing has had greater attention in the developed countries than it is likely to have in 
the developing countries, at any rate within the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, there is no 
reason why the developing countries, given their limited resources in finance and manpower, 

should not approach the subject in a more positive, albeit modest, manner. Development 
does not depend on abstract ideas backed by legislative provisions, but rather on the 
application of concrete proposals dependent on relevant law according to the circumstances 
of the locality. Consequently, what may be an excellent urban plan for London or New York 
may prove to be a disaster for Nairobi or Kampala. In this respect it is worthy of note that 
planning laws in the developing countries have tended to be modelled on those existing 
in the more developed countries. Even when a country is fully developed, it may find that 
copying urban schemes from equally developed countries is unlikely to be successful, as 
Japan has lately found out. Japan has a highly developed economy comparable to those of 
the United States and some European Countries, but her political ethos is not as mature. 
Since the Second World War, the Japanese obsession for democracy and the rights of private 
property has superseded the necessity to acquire land for public utility. The result has 
been that voluntary purchase of land for such elementary uses as public road construction 
has led to astronomical compensation to owners, while compulsory purchase has taken as 
long as five years to materialise. The consequence has been delays in the construction of 
public buildings. The government has been forced to locate housing projects on the worst 
sites or in places where it happened to own some land or where it could buy it easily. In 
East Africa, Town and Country Planning Legislation is, in the main, a colonial legacy. It 
is founded on English laws passed some twenty-five years ago and has remained principally 
unaltered notwithstanding that since then Britain has revised and amended her own laws 
because of new factors and circumstances. Dr. V. Uchendu has rightly observed that there 
are institutional rigidities in most African countries which prevent the articulation of land 
policies in ways favourable to economic development. ’ It could equally be said that the 
same rigidities have been partly responsible for the retardation of social development. During 
the colonial period tribal land rights and the ownership of land by the chiefs were often 
entrenched in the law, except where the land was required for European settlement, public 
institutions and mining. With the departure of the colonial administrations the nationalist 

governments changed constitutional instruments and other laws pertaining to governmental 
powers but paid little attention to land legislation in spite of the fact that, in the majority 
of cases, the national economy was founded on the land. It did not seem obvious that the 
tying of land to the evolutionary rules of customary tenure when the countries were 

‘Dr. V. C. Uchendu, The conflict between national policies and local sovereignty over land in 
Tropical Africa (a seminar paper presented at Leiden, Dec. 197 1). 



6 Progress in Piarming 

experiencing social and economic revolutions would deprive the people of the utifisation of 
the basic natural resource of the state. Similarly, adherence to the colonial land policy 

which prohibited migration from the villages to the urban centres has continued with 
little interruption, oblivious to the fact that the policy of restriction is incapable of halting 
the post-independence exodus to the towns. 

There has been some tentative research and writing about the economic and social needs 
of urban areas in Africa, including Uganda; not unnaturally, Kampala has had a major share 
in providing empirical data. Rather than being a&embracing and systematic, the research 
has been limited to isolated areas and topics of urbanisati(~n. It has tended to be sociological 
and anthropological rather than legal and administrative. Research workers and scholars 
have been more concerned with facts and behaviour which accord or contrast with the 
established theories of sociology and anthropology and less with applied research and 
discoveries. Much of the writing available is based on tribal and sectional behaviour and 
little has been done on national levels. Consequently, the value of this kind of information 
is limited. Before any realistic plans can be produced, it is necessary to know the 
demographic structure of the towns. The number of people who live in an area, their ages, 
their employment and behaviour and their economic strength are matters of vital importance 
if the area is to have a viable planned policy of development. The siting and establishment 
of industrial plants and commercial centres must be preceded by empirical data of 
population, migration, educational standards and residence preferences. It is interesting to 
note that in East Africa the colonial administrations have a better record of having cared 
about the problems of land tenure and urbanisation than the rlati~~nalist governnlents can 
claim since independence. As early as 1952, the then colonial Governor of Kenya pleaded 
for the study of these problems. He sent a despatch to the Colonial Office in London urging 
the relevant authorities to set up a body for the study of “Land and Population in East 
Africa’. A year later the Colonial Secretary, convinced of the desirability for such a body, 

recommended the setting up of a Royal Commission. In 195.5 the Commission’s Report was 
published, having examined ‘the problems of the land in relation to the economic, industrial 
and social development of the East African region as a whole and the mcrease of population 
which is taking place’. In the same year, the British colonial administration caused to be 
published a valuable compilation of urban policies in Uganda entitled ‘Town Planning in 
Uganda’, which was prepared by Henry Kendall, the Director of Town Planning in Uganda. 
The only valuable source of information since independeilce in East Africa is the book 
edited by E. W. Russell called TFre f~~ti~ra~ Resources ,f’Eust Africa. It was commissioned 
by the East African conservators of forests who at the time were British expatriates. No 
other comprehensive or illuminating study of the subject has been undertaken, despite the 
fact that East Africans are now in control of the development of their region with full 
powers. If the data is to be of any value it must be used. One of the disturbing elements in 
post-independence East Africa has been the ability of the Governments to ignore advice 
and recommended proposals. Robert W. Steel has given an excellent account of how 
empirical data has been used in the United Kingdom to enhance the production of plans for 
agricultural expansion and land utilisation.” 

Equally important is the need to interest indigenous scholars in undertaking research 
of this nature. The available information and empirical studies have been collected and 
produced by expatriates. One needs to glance only at bibliographies in such books as 
7% Cit_y iti New/y Lfewlr@rg Corrtttries and P~~~~~iati~rt, Mi~rati~rl ad ~rbatl~z~t~~j~l 61 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 7 

Africa to appreciate what has been done and by whom. Admittedly, much of these works 

are detailed and could be used as ‘raw material’ for what is likely to be achieved later. 
A legitimate criticism against this kind of research is that the scholars have often been 
guided by a strong desire to be appreciated by readers in developed countries rather than 
by a mission to assist local administrators and planners. Perhaps this is inevitable, as it is 
the developed countries which provide the funds which make the research possible. 
Moreover, a considerable number of the writers have been post-graduate scholars, under 
the academic supervision of professors, who live in developed countries and have little 
knowledge, let alone appreciation, of the people and problems with which the research 
projects are concerned. In a number of cases, the local authorities have not known the 
results of the research till they were published in the donor countries. Many scholars go 
to Africa insufficiently briefed about the appropriate methods of research and the manner 
in which it should be conducted. Invariably, wrong questions are asked and research subjects 
are approached in a manner which is offensive to the local population. Such indiscretions 
may lead to inhibition and suspicion on the part of the people. Mistrust leads to the 
obtaining of wrong answers, which may then result in distorted information and wrong 
interpretation of the facts. 

In his A Housing Survey in Mombasa, E. Stren gives an interesting study of the behaviour 
and attitudes of the residents in the area. One of the questions asked in his survey was 
whether or not the residents regarded Mombasa as their home. After analysing the answers 
Stren concludes that more than half of the residents did not consider it their home. On the 
basis of this analysis, a town housing planner might be led to believe that only less than 
half of the residents might need permanent homes. However, this belief would be based 
on one important assumption: that the research conclusions had made allowance for the 
fact that to most East Africans, ‘home’ is not simply the place of permanent residence but 

the place where they were born and brought up, or where their ancestors were born and 
buried. Stren comes from a country where notions of a home are different and his survey 
does not indicate that he was aware of this point. The defects in research findings and 
conclusions are increased by the fact that research workers spend a comparatively short 
period on their chosen projects. A project is usually based on one section of the country 
but the findings are generally applied to the whole country, and, in some cases, to the 
rest of Africa without allowing for any margin of error or variation. In many instances the 
writers will try to justify their research findings by explaining them in terms of planning 
designs and patterns existing in their own countries. It was with this kind of projection in 
mind that Johnstone Muthiora said, 

‘Whatever approach we take we must remind ourselves that nothing could be more undesirable 
or unfortunate than an acceptance of a policy of keeping up with stern planning ideals, with 
stereotypes derived from international patterns of architecture and civil design, quite inappropriate 
climatically and ethnically to the needs of our particular society.‘4 

However, it would be wrong to castigate foreign scholars and writers for indifference to 
the local problems and circumstances, particularly those who have worked and written in 
the post-independence era of African development. There have been some who recognise 
and appreciate the special needs of Africa and who have devoted their entire researches to 
finding the right solutions. Some of them have been ready to criticise many of their fellow 
expatriates who do not care about local problems. Charles Abrams, one of the most prolific 

4The human element in town and village planning, East African Social Sciences Council Conference 
papers 1968/69, Sociology papers, vol. 11, p.332. 



8 Progress in Planning 

writers on housing in developing countries, has regretted the tendency in some of the 
countries, 

‘to copy the complex codes of England, Germany or the United States as well as their zoning 

and planning laws, though they are irrelevant and though the talents to cnforcc, con?truc and 
adapt them may be completely lacking’.5 

Ideally, local circumstances, talents and finance should predominate in planning and 
housing. But the problems of urban environment are pretty universal. Consequently, it 
is important that they should be studied in the context of world planning and development. 
Prevailing attitudes about urban policies and schemes need to be examined at both 
regional and international levels. The successes and failures observed may lead to a 
reappraisal of the situation at the national level. Modern supranational institutions and 
organisations and state inter-dependence have meant that a country has often to look 
beyond its territory to find solutions to its domestic problems. Nationalism must give way 
to international knowledge of planning, housing and finance through diplomacy and aid. 
This is more relevant to the developing nations which are handicapped by lack of finance, 
manpower and experts. The question of aid must be re-examined to see whether it could 
be realistically directed to urban development. The United Nations has of late begun to 
appreciate the problems of urban planning and housing. In 1951, it set up a branch of 
Housing, Building and Planning in its Bureau of Social Affairs. The main function of the 
department was to undertake general studies on urban land problems and policies, 
community services and facilities, tropical housing and research techniques, stabilised 

social construction, financing, planning, education, regional planning and co-operative 
housing. The programme was an ambitious one and the department has met with colossal 
problems of finance, personnel and expertise advice. Nevertheless, since its inception, the 
department has produced considerable results based on its studies undertaken mainly in 
the countries of Asia, the Near East and Latin America. Many of these results would apply 
equally to the countries of Africa. The most important contribution made by the United 
Nations in this field has been its willingness to release its expert personnel to advise national 
governments, departments and organisations in surveying, planning, financing and housing. 
The same body has founded educational colleges and institutions to cater for regional 
interests. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other United 
Nations-sponsored commissions for Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America have made 
studies and given advice to governments on certain aspects of housing and urban problems. 
There is thus a wealth of information and research findings on the problems of urban 
development. The commodity which remains hard to find is finance and without it every 
policy and scheme is a matter of theoretical imagination. Most of the United Nations bodies 
exist in an advisory capacity and do not give money to the governments they advise. There 
are however a few international organisations which have limited funds available for urban 
development and housing schemes. The World Bank has reluctantly agreed to consider 
giving loans for housing projects which are regarded as ‘integral part of a directly 
productive project’. Some countries have received such loans and have constructed 
houses for staff and workers who are employed on large-scale projects of economic 
production. There are also regional organisations whose functions include the development 
of urban areas and the construction of houses. Among these may be mentioned the 
Colombo Plan, the Caribbean Commission, the Organisation of American States, the East 
African Development Bank and the Commonwealth Development Corporation. In addition, 

‘Atp 62 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 9 

some individual governments and religious organisations support housing projects in a 

number of developing countries. Hitherto, the aid-giving countries have given little attention 

to urban development or housing unless they are directly connected with the economic or 
educational schemes they are interested in. The overriding consideration has been that aid 
is given for a productive purpose and housing falls outside that categorisation. In cases 
where aid has been used on housing, the buildings have turned out to be prestigeous and 
irrelevant to the real needs of the ordinary people in the aid-receiving country. It must be 
said that there is a strong case for reassessing the benefits accruing from the principles of 
aid; certainly urban development and housing in the receiving country should be one of 

them. 

(c) THE CITY OF KAMPALA - AREA, POPULATION AND 

PROBLEMS 

Of the East African cities only Kampala can claim to have grown out of an indigenous 
African town. The others have developed mainly from Arab and Asian trading outposts or 
from European settlements under the colonial administrations. The municipality of Mengo, 
since 1884 the seat of government of Buganda, the largest and most developed region of 
Uganda, is within Kampala. Until the abolition of Uganda Monarchies in 1967, Buganda 
was one of four ancient kingdoms, each with a separate system of African administration 
organised under a semi-feudal chieftainship. In Kampala, the palace of the Kings and their 
tombs stand side by side with new buildings and bazaars and in contrast with modern 
architecture and design. Mengo was the focal point of Uganda’s explorers, missionaries and 
colonial administrators. Inevitably, it became the centre of commerce and trade. The most 

important educational and religious institutions, the largest and most modern hospitals, 
the Press, main government offices, industrial plants and factories, the largest business 

enterprises and most of the professional people are all to be found in Kampala. The city 
reflects and symbolises the nation of Uganda, and its development is almost synonymous 
with the development of the country. However, the reflection is purely superficial, because 
the progress of Kampala is far ahead of other areas in Uganda and the city is a developed 
island in a territory which is largely undeveloped. If Kampala is to remain the centre of 
every activity of development in Uganda two things will happen. Firstly, only the people 
who live in or around the city will share the benefits of such development. Secondly, the 
city’s problems of planning and housing are likely to increase more than in other towns. On 
the other hand, it might be more equitable and practical to let other regions share some 
of its functions and burdens, in which case a deliberate policy of decentralising its activities 
would be necessary. Currently, the city attracts large numbers of the unemployed not only 
from the rest of Uganda but also from the neighbouring states. The influx of migrants into 
the city is so great that there cannot be a sufficient number of diverse jobs to absorb the 
unemployed. At the same time, Kampala lacks adequate transport services, housing and 
recreational facilities. Partly because of these difficulties, and perhaps in spite of them, 
the city has in recent years witnessed an increase in juvenile delinquency, prostitution and 
crime. Yet Kampala is not so big that it cannot be managed well. Admittedly, its population 
has grown more rapidly than most other cities. In 1936, its population was a mere 4000. 
By 1930 that figure had doubled. By the census of 1959 the population of Kampala 
exceeded 50,000 persons. Ten years later, and with the extended boundaries, the last census 
results showed a population of 330,700 people. By any standards, this is a startling rate of 
population but, as indicated, the size of the city was enlarged in 1968 and the tremendous 



10 Progress in Planning 

increase in population reflects both the newcomers and the high national rate of population 
growth. 

It is necessary at this point to examine some of the problems which confront the 
planners of Kampala as an urban area. Until its extension in 1968, the city’s area was no 
more than 11 square miles, but since that date it covers 75 square miles. This means that 
until 1968 over 80 per cent of the present city area had not been subject to urban planning, 
legislation or control. Consequently, Kampala offers great opportunities for planning and 

experimentation. 

Although until 1969 the sub-county of Mengo was always the more populous of the 
two, Kampala was always by far the wealthier.6 Comparative official estimates over the 
years show that in revenue and expenditure, the finances of Kampala exceeded those of the 
sub-county. In the years between 1928 and 1947 these excesses were in the ratio of six to 
one in favour of Kampala. After that period, the finances of Kampala increased more 
rapidly while those of Mengo remained almost stagnant. For instance, in 1953 Kampala’s 
expenditure was &500,000 while that of Mengo was a mere fl4,OOO. Much of Kampala’s 
income came from rates and development projects while Mengo relied heavily on subsidies 
and grants from the Protectorate government. The financial weakness of the Mengo 
Municipality cannot be attributed entirely to the poverty of its residents even though this 
was a contributing factor. It was mainly the result of the administrative incapacity of the 
Mengo authorities and the rigidity of the Land Tenure system which existed in Buganda. 
The authorities failed to raise or hold funds available for investment. The Buganda 
landowners strongly opposed any reasonable level of taxation or urban rating. The highest 
level of taxation for the wealthiest Africans was ridiculously low and in Mengo they were 
not subject to the levy of urban rates. In contrast, the Kampala non-African residents and 
businessmen paid rates and taxes comparable to those of an average English town. The 
inability to appreciate the possibilities of a cash economy in preference to an agrarian 
subsistence agriculture within Uganda was first pointed out by Sir Apolo Kagwa, one of 
the first Africans ever to sit in the Legislative Council. In his famous maiden speech he 
said: 

Sir, I hould like to draw attention to the fact that the introduction of a ca\h economy 
has disturbed the African society and shaken tit) to its very foundation our customs. Unless 
the African is trained in the new economy and the art of earning money and spending it wisely 
he will be ruined and his progrcxs will be impossit~lc.‘7 

At the time few people in Mengo or elsewhere in the native administrations of Uganda took 

heed of Kegwa’s warning. It is noteworthy that under the Buganda Agreement of 1900 it 
was the chiefs who owned most of the land within Buganda, including the municipality of 
Mengo. At the same time, they were the same people who, under the Buganda system of 
local government, authorised and controlled any policies or schemes involving land. 

6Although the Municipality of Mengo is geographically within the city of Kampala, Kampala is 
politically within the sub-county of Mengo. LJndcr the Buganda system of local govcmment, the 
kingdom was divided into counties, sub-countie\ and parishes. Mengo is one of such sub-counties of 
which Mengo Municipality is a parish. In other words, both the sub-county and the municipality are 
known by the same name of Mengo. Originally, Kampala was founded on the eastern side of the 
municipality of Mengo but through decades of development and extensions. the municipality came to be 
surrounded by arcas within the jurisdiction of the Kampala Urban authority. 

7Proc.eedirzgs of the Legislative Council, 4 Dec. 1945. This was the first time that Africans (3 I 
had been admitted to the Council as members. 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 11 

Traditionally, the chiefs power lay in his ownership of the land, for all his tenants and 
sub-tenants were under a customary duty to pay him homage and traditional rent as well 
as to obey his orders and do various onerous services for him. The alienation of his land or 
the tying it to industrial and housing projects would have meant the reduction of the tenant 
population and therefore a decrease in the chiefly powers and privileges. It is intended to 
discuss the land system in Uganda later on, but it may suffice here to mention some of the 
salient features of the Buganda Land Tenure. The system entrenches the rights and duties 
of landlords and tenants, the customary rules of inheritance, limits the uses to which land 
may be put, and bars alienation to non-Africans. The system is so sacred to Buganda 
influential families that few governments would have the political courage to abolish it 
even though it is considered a hindrance to planning and development. The former President 
of Uganda, Dr. Milton Obote, did everything possible to reduce the traditional influence 
of the defunct Buganda kingdom but failed to reform its unique land tenure system. His 

government passed the revolutionary Public Land Act of 1969 which more or less 
nationalised all the land in the country except in Buganda. The Act simply made provision 
for the continuance of the tenure and the protection of the rights created under it. 

During the colonial period, greater emphasis was placed on the control of the use of 
rather than the economic development of urban land. Since independence, the reverse 
would appear to be the case under the nationalist governments. However, the land laws 
enacted during the colonial administrations have continued in force with little reform, if 
any. The urban centres of colonial East Africa were dominated by non-indigenous residents 
who were mostly Asians and Europeans. The latter included large numbers of administrators, 
professional people and industrialists, while the former were mainly traders, artisans and 
commercial proprietors. Between them, the two races controlled urban life in the region 
notwithstanding that they were always outnumbered there by the indigenous Africans. The 
presence of the African in towns was regarded as temporary rather than permanent. He was 
supposed to visit the town during the day, go only to certain places, finish whatever business 
brought him there and at the end of the day return to his village home, wherever it might 
be. There was but little appreciation of the fact that for many Africans, especially those 
who had had some education, the town transformed their lives and they no longer wished 
to be confined to the dull life of the village. The town had become a home and a place in 
which they wished to come and go as they pleased without restriction. Thomas and Scott 
expressed the general official attitude to the urbanisation of Ugandans when in 1935 they 
wrote: 

‘There is no evidence, however, of a tendency on the part of the natives to congregate in the 
townships . The native is fundamentally a peasant, whatever his rank or stage of education 
may be, and neither understands nor has any sympathy with a manner of life which is not 
intimately connected with land.” 

This assessment was certainly true of the older generation and particularly those whose 
lives revolved around the influence of the traditional chiefs. Nevertheless, the younger and 
more educated class had begun to reject this mode of life; but the colonial officials did 
not encourage them to be absorbed into the towns and in some cases restrictive measures 
were taken to ensure that they returned to their village homes. In cases where the 
administrators felt that the African could not possibly go back to the village, either because 
it was too far from the urban centre or because his employment required him to be a 
permanent resident, they carefully selected places of residence outside the urban area where 

8H.B. Thomas and R. Scott. Uganda, p.215 



12 Progress in Planning 

he could be housed and encouraged to keep in touch with the village customs, habits and 
mode of living. Even today, the people who live in these shanty towns continue to do so 
in a village atmosphere, surrounded by food plots, goats and fowls. The urban authorities 
were asked to have as little contact with them as possible. They remained under the 
administration and jurisdiction of the native authorities of the neighbouring parishes and 
sub-counties. Of the Africans living in Kampala in 1933, only one in five had a dwelling they 
could call their own. The rest occupied labour camps, servants’ quarters and barracks. At 
the same time some 4000 workers of all trades and occupations came into the town every 
day from distant villages to work in Kampala. Most of them came and left on foot and 
only very few owned bicycles. Community clubs and recreational centres within the urban 
areas were founded and managed for the dominant communities with little provision for 
the Africans except insofar as they were employed in these premises. 

Independence brought with it an influx of indigenous migrants to the towns. The 
relaxation of the prohibitive measures, the acquisition of jobs by relatives in the towns and 
the accommodating attitude of the non-African residents and businessmen meant that the 
town had become more attractive than before. Unfortunately, the urban legislation and 
planning left by the colonial administrations changed but little. The new government 
officials replaced the expatriates, the Asian community remained and the rest of the urban 
African residents continued to be ignored. It is only in recent years that the African 

governments have come reluctantly to accept the reality that the towns are as attractive 
to their own people as they have been to Europeans and Asians. However, the realisation 
has come at a time when those governments consider national priorities to be not the 
improvement of living conditions in the towns, but economic development and public 
security. It is with this information and discussion as a background that we now examine 
and discuss the question of land, the enabling legislation and urban planning. 



CHAPTER 2 

Land Law, Policies and A ttitudes 

(a) THE SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE 

The feasibility and success of planning schemes and housing programmes are dependent 
upon the availability of land and the ease with which it can be acquired for development. 
Equally important is the attitude of the people who own, use and occupy the land to be 
developed. For this reason it is necessary to examine the incidence of landownership and 
land holding in East Africa and to describe the various attitudes the inhabitants have 
towards the use of their land. 

Before the establishment of the British colonial administrations, land in East Africa 
was governed by rules of customary law. The extent to which these rules differed depended 
on the social structure, traditions and customs of a particular tribe or tribes belonging to 
one ethnic group in the region. However, in spite of the many tribes inhabiting East Africa, 
three basic systems of land tenure may be identified as having existed before the colonial 
rule. The systems followed the type of political set-up any particular tribe had evolved for 
itself. The first system prevailed in those areas which had traditional and hereditary rulers 
or kings. The second system was to be found in regions where there were no kings but 

where the people enjoyed some kind of central administration through powerful chiefs 
or clan heads.,The third system operated in areas with no central authority or where none 
of the chiefs had enough authority to command the following and loyalty of the whole 

tribe. It is necessary briefly to examine each type of these systems. 
Typical of, but by no means identical with, the first system was the land tenure which 

existed in the Buganda kingdom of Uganda. Notionally, all the land in Buganda was owned 

by the Kabaka or king. Anyone holding land in the kingdom did so at the Kabaka’s pleasure. 
There were three kinds of landholding: clan ownership, official estates and individual 
tenancy. Though least in size, clan ownership was the most important in Buganda and the 
Kabaka himself did not interfere with it, considering that his position to the stool depended 
largely on the consent of the clan heads. Traditionally, the people of Buganda are divided 
into clans, each of which is identified by a symbolic name of an animal. Every clan has a 
clan leader, known as the Omutaka, the plural of which is Abataka. The Abataka are the 
guardians of the clan’s customs, traditions and ancestral homes and tombs. Besides 
rendering certain ceremonial services to the Kabakaship, the Abataka settle disputes of a 
customary nature amongst the clan members, including the determination of inheritance 
rights. Each clan has within Buganda an area of land which has always been regarded as 
clan land or Butaka. Every clan head occupies Butaka on the same principles as the English 
entailed estate owner. Only he and his family may live on and cultivate Butaka; he may 
not dispose of it or alienate it; moreover, every clan member, wherever he might be, has 

13 



14 Progress in Planning 

a customary right to bury any deceased relative in the clan land. An Omutaka had to be 
confirmed by the Kabaka, and in return the Abataka approved his accession to the Buganda 
throne. The Kabakas were so much aware of the importance of clan heads that they assumed 
the honorary status of Ssabataka, or the father of all clan heads. This status enabled the 
Kabakas not only to exercise general supervision over clan heads, but also to evict them if 
they neglected or abused their responsibilities. The clan land is sacred and the most 
important aspect of it is the ancestral tomb. It is inalienable and can only be used for 
cultivation or building houses for the clan head and his family. 

The second category of landholding within Buganda was the official estates of the chiefs. 
The Administration of Buganda was perhaps the most sophisticated and developed 

throughout Central and East Africa before colonial rule. The system was feudal in character 
and was founded on a hierarchy of greater and lesser chiefs, all of whom were appointed 
by the Kabaka. At the centre were the greater chiefs, the Regents, who assisted the king in 
discharging the functions of the Treasury, Judiciary and royal ceremonies. Then the country 
was divided into counties known as Sazas, over which the great Saza chiefs presided. These 
were assisted by lesser chiefs like the Gombolola and Miruka chiefs, down to village level. 
Each of these chiefs, great and small, was entitled to acres of land which he held ex-officio 

under the Kabaka’s royal prerogative. This kind of land was called Obutongole. On the 
death or removal from office of the chief, the land went to his successor who was not 
necessarily his heir, since chieftainship was not hereditary. Nevertheless, the chief might 
have leased the land to his relations and other people in the area, in which event they 
remained in occupation subject to the necessary dues and loyalty to the new incumbent. 
Buganda was an over-administered kingdom and, as may be imagined, official estates 
constituted the largest part of the country. In addition, there were royal estates reserved 
for the Kabakaship and royal persons. As some of the Kabakas were notoriously 
promiscuous and illegitimacy did not carry with it the same stigma as today, these royal 
estates were equally numerous and extensive. Obutongole was closely associated with 
political power. In the first place, no one could obtain its contiol unless one was appointed 

a chief by the Kabaka. In the second place, no tenant could exercise a right of occupancy 
unless he was prepared to be subservient to the chief. Subservience involved not only 
giving loyalty but also the payment of certain dues and the rendering of onerous service’s 
to both the chief arid the Kabaka, at the chiefs command. 

The third concept of landholding in Buganda was based on personal claims which 
materialised either through long occupation or confirmation of holding by the Kabaka. 

Any land which was neither clan land nor Butongole could be occupied by anyone who was 
able later to claim owners~p by prescription. Aithou~customary law did not fix the time 
of prescription, in practice the claimant had to show that he had been living on the land 
for some considerable time and that his possession was not challenged by his neighbours. 
Mukwaya gives another method by which this kind of landholding could be acquired: 

‘Both chiefs and peasants who had wmc ~LWSS to the King wailed themselves of uomc 
opportunity to have a pcrmancnt claim to one particular piece of land recognizd. It ~3% common 
for a chief early in hi\ career to choow one holding for his pcrwnai use OS distinct from the 

holding in his official USC.‘~ 

Occupation by prescription or grant was less extensive than official estates, but economically 
it was more valuable since the owner was free from the traditional duties of clan heads and 

9pp. 12-13, 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 15 

the political pressures of the official estate owners, and, more importantly, the land was 

inheritable. 
The colonial administration concluded the 1900 Agreement with the Buganda kingdom 

and inter alia purported to preserve the customary land tenure. In reality, landsettlement 
under the Agreement took a completely different form from both the original customary 
tenure in Buganda and the colonial practices in othe’r territories of Central and East Africa. 
Of the original tenures only the official estates were recognised as private estates of those 
chiefs who happened to be in power at the time of the Agreement. The clan heads were 
largely ignored and the rights of the peasants were degraded to tenancies at will from the 
landlords. The best arable land was taken over by the Kabaka, his family and the &eater 
chiefs. Certain lesser chiefs and some individuals who had acquired holdings by prescription 
also benefited under the Agreement. The Agreement did not define the type of tenure it 
had created; it was simply called Mailo land. The word Mailo was the English mile or square 

mile and is now adopted in Buganda to indicate an estate of any area. Nevertheless, the 
nature of the holding and the incidence of user show that Mailo land is owned on the same 
principles as English freehold. The Mailo land is transmissible through succession and sale 
and over the years it has been sold or willed away in such a manner that there has been 
considerable fragmentation. The 1900 Agreement was followed by an intensive survey and 
demarcation of the land. The issuing of titles to holders commenced in 1909 and has 
remained a continuous process under the Registration of Titles Ordinance as subsequently 
amended. Deals in land began to worry the Buganda Government, so that in 1939 it passed 
an Act which made it an offence for anyone 

‘to sell or buy land unless the person selling was either the registered proprietor OI purchaser or 
donee of unsurveyed part of Mailo land and a memorial of his interest in such land had been 
entered into the Mailo Register.“’ 

The Land Succession Law of 1921 similarly prohibited anyone from dealing with any 
testate or intestate Mailo land unless he had a certificate of succession issued by the 

“Lukiiko’ or Parliament of Buganda. 
The secong kind of land tenure was to be found in regions which accepted communal 

ownership of land. The land belonged to the whole tribe or clan with the council of chiefs 
acting as trustees and guardians of the land for the members of the tribe or clan as the case 
may be. The tribe claimed the land to the exclusion of other tribes or individuals. The 
members of the tribe had a mere right of occupancy. The occupancy lasted as long as the 
land was under cultivation or was being positively cleared for such cultivation. In the event 
of a dispute about the right of occupancy the chiefs, assisted by the elders of the area, 
resolved the matter. There were areas within the tribal area where cultivation was not 
allowed and these included grazing, ceremonial and hunting grounds. In Uganda, the 
colonial administration preferred the Buganda system introduced under the 1900 Agreement 
and attempts were made to apply the same in other areas with little success. Apart from 
small official estates appurtenant to the chiefs’ enclosures, the colonial administration 
declared the rest of the land Crown land. 

The third system of land tenure was in the non-kingdom, non-chieftainship districts 
which did not have central authorities. Although the clan was the most important unit 
within the tribe, every family head was the land authority within his family. He settled 

loLand (Sale and Purchase) Law, 1939. This followed the recommendations of the Sheppard Report 
on the Cadastral Survey and Registration of Title to Land in Buganda, 1938 (cyclostyled, unpublished); 
see also Lumonde v. Kaggwa (Katikiro we byalo bya Kabaka No. 14/43/47 of 1950). 



16 FroQ~L?ss in Fl~~n~~g 

wherever he wished and used the land in any manner he preferred. For all intents and 
purposes he owned the land as if he was a proprietor of freehold under English law. At 
death, the land would be distributed among his relations in accordance with local custom. 
Moreover, there was no bar against alienation to members of other tribes as, through famine 
and other natural scourges, the latter emigrated to those districts and begged to be given 
land on which they could settle and cultivate. As a result these districts possess some of the 
most fragmented pieces of land in individual holding. It is also a characteristic of these 
areas that they tend to be agricultural, overcrowded and cosmopolitan. When the colonial 
ad~nistrators visited these areas for the first time they found no central authority which 
represented the inhab~tallts and with whom they could have reached agreer~~ents. as they 
had done in areas with traditional rulers and chiefs. The land was therefore declared Crown 
Iand. It was unfortunate that this happened considering that of the three types of tenure 
only the last-mentioned denoted some kind of individual ownership which would later 
have allowed maximum development by the owners. It should be noted that the land was 
declared to be Crown land notwithstanding its habitation by the indigenous people whu had, 
moreover, occupied and cultivated it from time immemorial. They continued to do so 
according to customary law and neither understood nor cared about the new status which 
was given to their land. The colonial government took cognisance of this by declaring that 

‘any Crown land occupied and cultivated by natives will be as secure from alienation as if 
protected by title deeds’, However, they insisted that persons who could not prove the 

custom would still be obliged to register their claims under the Registration of Titles 
Ordinance. In 1897 Land Regulations in respect of Uganda were made enlp~~wering the 

Governor to grant certificates of occupancy to land claimants. The only people who 
benefited were non-Africans. Many of them demanded so much of the arable and 
commercial land that the colonial administration was forced throughout East Africa to 
restrict the right of the non-Africans to own and acquire land defined as African. 

We have seen that the 1900 Agreement with Buganda made no provision for the 
protection of the peasants. With the introduction of economic crops, especialIy coffee and 
cotton, the landlords in Buganda began to exploit the peasants. The customary tribute 
known as Busulu was converted into money and, in addition, the Mailo landowners began 
to demand other dues from their tenants. The peasants objected to this form of 
exploitation and with the clan heads as their cliampions they began to press for the revival 
of their customa~ rights. The landlords, having become accustomed to the ad~litages of 
individual ownership, resisted the peasants claims. The controversy raged for some years 
until the colonial government was compelled to intervene. After convincing the Mailo 
owners that their rights under the 1900 Agreement would be preserved, the government 
persuaded the Lukiiko to pass the Busulu and Envujjo law of 1927 under which the rights 
and obligations of the respective sides were recognised and guaranteed. The peasants 
acquired greater protection under the new law than they had hitherto enjoyed under 
customary law. The annual rent for the land was permanently fixed at IO shillings and, 
apart from the customary duty to give respect to the landowner and the requirement for a 
small sum to he paid for the acres or parts thereof under the cultivation of economic crops, 

the peasants enjoyed the right of undisturbed occupancy. So long as the tenant observed 
his ~~bl~gati~)ns under the new law, the i~iIid~)wner ~3s powerless to remove him from his 
land. The Busulu and Envujjo law was an irnp(~rtalit measure as it established. on a 
permanent basis, a cordial relationship between the Mailo iandowners and the peasants. 
Unfortunately. the political success of the measure was not complemented by the [‘ossibility 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 17 

of economic development. Apart from certain abuses of the system by some landowners, 

who demanded high and illegal premiums as a precondition to granting tenancies, the law 
operated to the detriment of the landowners. The rent and other tributes remained static 
notwithstanding that the economic realities of future years demanded an equitable price 
for the land. Some of the more enlightened landowners succeeded in buying out their 
tenants, but where the number of tenants was large the compensation required acted as 
a deterrent. Nor could the tenants themselves develop the land since its use was limited to 
cultivation. In any event, the landowner was reluctant to authorise other uses because the 
system would not have entitled him to a share in the accruing benefits. Thus, from both the 
point of view of the landowner and of the tenant, the land was heavily encumbered. 
Despite the defects I have mentioned, the colonial policy towards land in Uganda and 
especially the prohibition of land sales between African holders and non-Africans led to 
the dominant position of the peasant farmers in the agricultural economy of the country. 

Tanganyika was originally a German colony where the administration had created some 
kind of freehold titles of which the majority were held by non-Africans. It had also 
recognised tribal lands and established the remainder as public land. The British mandated 

administration which took over after the First World War simply confirmed the German- 
created land titles and declared the rest of the country to be public land subject to 
recognition of the land held and cultivated by the inhabitants under the customary law. In 
Kenya, the situation was entirely different. From the earliest period of British 
administration, Kenya had attracted a considerable number of European settlers. They 
selected the best arable lands in the territory and settled totfound extensive farms. The 
European claims and titles were guaranteed under the law. The rest of the country was 
divided into Native Reserves and Crown land, with the latter available to all races to claim 
occupancy under certain conditions. Not unnaturally, the Africans began to protest 
against the policy which deprived them of the best lands in the country. They demanded a 
share in the richer areas of the Kenya Highlands which had been declared European territory. 
Their demands were later to develop into national political movements like the Mau Mau 
whose main activities came to be directed against the colonial government and the white 
settlers. 

(h) CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLONIAL POLICIES 

The acceptance of communal tenure and official as well as tribal ownership had an 
adverse economic result. The indigenous farmers were taught new methods of agriculture 
and husbandry; and Ordinances and Regulations were made to improve and control the 
cultivation of economic crops. Nevertheless, the land policy did not achieve its objectives. 
There was no incentive for the local farmer to develop the land which he did not own. 

Those who tried to do so found themselves hampered by the rules of customary tenure. 
They could not obtain more land for economic expansion; nor could they introduce 
schemes of planned and intensive farming. There was no positive way in which unproductive 
or destructive use of land could be checked. It was impossible to move people from an 
overcrowded tribal area to another where there was plenty of space. The prohibition of land 
sales to non-Africans might have kept the African in his natural habitat, but it also meant 
that land could not be obtained by people who had the means to develop it. More 
importantly, it could not be used as security to enable the Africans to get loans with which 
to develop it themselves. The radical changes which were taking place and affecting the 

C 



18 Progress in P/arming 

demography and economy of the region lacked comparative and realistic land reforms. This 
was a period when the cash crops and economic devel~~pment had radicaliy changed the 

attitude of the Africans towards customary land tenure. The trend in thought was towards 
the recognition of individual ownership even in those areas where land had been communally 
owned. Yet the administrations and the courts failed to accept this evolutionary change. 

The policy remained that land belonged either to the traditional chief or to the tribe and 

no individual could claim ownership. The recognised principle seemed to be that pronounced 
in the Amodu Tijani case by Lord Haldane that ‘In every case, the chief or Headman of the 
Community or village or Head of a family has charge of land and in loose mode of speech 
is sometimes called the owner.‘” In JihLlrlir trihc~ v. A. A. Visrfznz (I 91 3)12 m enterprising 
member of the Jibana tribe purported to sell Land to the defendant. As soon as the defendant 

began to exercise the right of ownership, the members of the Jibana tribe drove him and 
his servants out and destroyed all the b~l~ldings he had put up. The defendant asked for 
and got governinent protection: then he went back to the land. The Jibana tribe sued 
the defendant, contending that according to their custom land belonged to God, to be 
enjoyed by everyone, and could not be sold either by an individual or by the elders of the 
tribe. Hamilton C.J. found for the tribe, but conceded that such a state of affairs was 
highly undesirable and that the government should use its powers to change the custom. 
The government did not heed the advice. In a series of other cases such as Mdwnu hir7 

S’uid v. The Registrur of’ Titles and Mto~rt hire Mwamha v. The Attorrwy &ntwd 

(1’952),‘” Africans in possession of land sought declarations that they were entitled to 
register their claims as individual proprietors. In each case. the Court refused to do so on 
the ground that these plaintiffs had failed to prove that their particular tribal customs 
allowed individual ownership. The judges, having been brought up under the English law 
principles which recognised custom only if, inter a&z. it was ancient and certain, were not 
prepared to exhibit the same Iiberalism as Okenu J. and Lord Denning showed in Kotri 
v. Asere Stool (1961) when they agreed that: 

‘Native law and custom in Ghana has progrossed w t‘ar 2s fo transform usufructuary right. . 
into an estate or interest in land which the suljcct 

hc dots customlrry services ttr the s(ool. ‘14 
can UK or deal with as his own, so long 21s 

(c) POST-INDEPENDENCE DEVELOPMENTS 

Of the three East African countries, only Tanganyika, latterly Tanzania, has had far- 
reaching land reforms, albeit affecting a small number of people. Within two years of 
obtairling independence Tangany~a enacted the Freehold Titles (Conversi~~n and 
Governmellt Leases) Act by which al1 the land vested in the President of the Republic and 
all freehold estates were converted into government leases of a maximum duration of 99 
years. Although the public land under the colonial policy continued to be occupied and 
used by the Africans in accordance with customary law, the new law meant that aI1 the 

11(1965) 74 Y.L.J. 848, ctc 

‘2s E.A.L.R., p. 141. 

‘“(1948) 16 E.A.C.A., p. 79, vol. V; E.A.L.R., p. 54, respectively. 

14See Asante, lnlerests in land in the customary Law of Ghana 3 new appraisal. ( 1965) 74 

U.L.J. 848. 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 19 

freehold land and urban land was placed firmly under government control. Recently, the 
policy was extended further by government acquisition under compulsory powers of all 
buildings whether commercial or privately-owned and leased. In Uganda, the various 
post-independence Acts have had little effect on customary tenure. The Public Lands 
Act of 1962 left intact all the then existing private rights in land and vested the Crown lands 
into local Land Boards which were empowered to exercise the same powers previously 
exercised by the colonial administration under the Crown Land Ordinance. For practical 
purposes, the local Boards were to have the same powers over land as proprietors of 
freehold land. However, through inexperience, political manoeuvring and nepotism, the 
Boards did not function as efficiently and equitably as the Act had envisaged. Consequently, 
in 1969, all public land was vested in a national Land Commission with the same powers 
originally exercised by the local Boards. The Act preserved individual ownership of Mailo 
land and the titles registered under the Registration of Titles Ordinance as amended. Also 
preserved were the customary rights of tenants and peasants. The official estates were 
converted into public lands and the tenants on them became tenants of the Commission. 
With regard to Kenya, the post-independence administration introduced a new policy of 
gradually replacing willing European settlers with Africans, but because only a few of the 

latter could afford to buy out the Europeans, the policy would be achieved in two ways. 
Firstly, a number of Africans might combine their finances to buy out one European owner, 
in which case his estate would be distributed between the number with each member of 
the group getting a title to his share. Inevitably, this has led to a considerable fragmentation 
of many of the farms formerly owned by Europeans. Secondly, the Kenya Government, 
assisted by financial aid from Britain, decided to buy out any European farmers who were 
willing to sell and the government gave them adequate monetary compensation. After 
acquisition, the government would dispose of the land in any manner including letting or 
reselling to African farmers. A significant number of European settlers have, however, 
continued to hold on to their farms and some of them have acquired Kenyan citizenship. 
The rest of the land is still occupied and used under the principles of customary law as 
modified by legislation and regulations. However, recent policy statements in Kenya indicate 
that the government intends to encourage individual ownership of land throughout the 
Republic. 

(d) THE ATTITUDE OF THE INHABITANTS TO URBAN 
LAND 

Throughout the colonial period the official policy was that Africans did not like to be 
urbanised and that even if they did it was undesirable to encourage them. The urban centres 
were therefore reserved and developed primarily for the non-Africans, mainly the European 
administrators and the Asian commercial community. All the towns were declared Crown 
lands, but because of this policy no attempts were made to extend town boundaries to 
limits which would have allowed maximum development for future generations. Much of 
the land in what would later become the suburban areas of the towns continued to be 
occupied by Africans under their various customs of land tenure. In Buganda, the arrival 
of the colonial administration meant that the chiefs’ loyalty was now divided, for, besides 
the duties and services they owed to the Kabaka, they also had to observe the orders of 
the colonial administrators who resided mainly in urban centres. It became necessary for 
the chiefs to acquire land in and near the urban centres from where they could ably serve 



20 Prcypss in Fl~nn~~g 

the new masters. Thus many of the chiefs put claims to some of these lands, let them to 
the peasants and asked the Kabaka to recognise the claims as personal possessions. The 

landowners continued to regard land as a source of political power rather than as a source 
of wealth. Land was for the allurement of tenat~ts for providing services and fruits of the 
land and not an investment for commercial and development purposes. It bestowed chiefly 
honours on the owners, including those who had not been fit to be appointed chiefs. 
Because of this attitude governments t’ound it difficult to convince the owners that the sale 

or development of their land could yield better profits or, indeed, be in the public interest. 
More important is the fact that the majority of the tenants on these lands are temporary 
residents who have come to the towns for the sole purpose of getting enough money for 
dowry and tax, with intention of founding homes outside their tribal areas. The landowner 
finds it more advantageous to receive small returns from such tenants who occupy temporary 
huts and shanty buildings on his land than to sell or let to long-term developers who are 
likely to replace him as a political force in the area. The few who would wish to develop 
their holdings find themselves encumbered by rules of customary tenure, certain legislative 
pr(~visions and the requiremel~ts of modern commercial t~nsa~tions. 

In both Kenya and Uganda the governments have encouraged the Africans to take up 
leases of urban lands in public ownership and develop them for residential or commercial 

purposes. However, because of insufficient funds, lack of housing co-operatives and 
inadequate planning schemes, the policy has not been as successful as was originally hoped. 
The policy has tended to favour the civil servants in high positions who have been able to 
obtain loans on the strength either of. their good saiaries or on the influence they exert 

upon loan-giving organisations. They have been able to erect buildings of such sophistication 
and cost that only non-Africans and personnel of foreign embassies and international 
organisations have been able to afford the exorbitant rents. They have been assisted further 
by the fact that they are entitled to housing or a housing allowance, provided by public 
funds. A number of liigllly-pai~l executive officers have so far abused their official positions 
in their bid to better themselves ~ii~ln~ially that they have been the subject of official 
inquiries. Some of the Africans who took up the leases found themselves unable to develop, 
and decided to sub-let to the non-Africans at high premiums. Mr. E. M. S. Kate, a former 
Permanent Secretary in the Uganda Ministry of Regional Administrations, stated at an 
international conference that 

‘01ic of tltc int~l~ti~rls ol‘ &tngi:ing ttlc l~~~~rili~~ri~s 0f F;aill$;tla w;ts to enaillc as ntany Africans 
;ts possible to bc brought within the urban life. Howcvcr, in these new WC~~S, it is ohserved that 

the indigenous people arc’ taking the opportunity to +t rid of the land at good prices to non- 
Africans. l‘hcrcforc, this is ;1 problcnl WC nectl to watch and see that the Africans arc fully 
integrated. that is, they become town tlwellcrs. ‘t‘hc prohlcm outtined about urban devclopmcnt 

and planning of Kampala is likely to occur clsewhcrc.“” 

It may be said that R;lr. Kate’s statement is an over-simpli~~ation of the urban problems 
existing in East Africa today. The Africans are already town dwellers and they have been 
ever since the coming of the colonial administrations. These problems are not likely to 
occur elsewhere; they have already occurred. What remains is the recognition of these 
problems, the realisation of the residents’ needs. East Africa 113s an abundance of statutes 
enabling both local authorities and the national governments to acquire land compulsorily 
for urban ~level(~p~l~elit. However, under the Town and Country Planning Acts, the same 
authorities have the powers to control and direct development whether of a public or 

lSI,arzd law Refurru irl East /IfPica, p. 299. 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 2 1 

private nature. It may not be necessary to go into a detailed analysis of these laws, but it 

may suffice to mention that they are modelled on comparable English laws without a great 
deal of imagination as to the peculiar conditions of East Africa. The statutes and regulations 

have in the main reposed on government office shelves, unread and unused. Occasionally 
they have been resorted to, but only for some political reason or the desire to benefit 

certain individuals rather than the nation as a whole. It is only recently that Tanzania 
with its socialist policies has decided to study and use land for the benefit of the nation. 

I have found it necessary to examine the various land tenures and laws at length because 
I believe that they have been largely responsible for the rather insignificant part the Africans 
have hitherto played in the development of urban centres. Earlier on I made the hypothesis 
that if the urban centres are to be developed at a reasonable pace it is necessary that the 
rural areas should compete with them in attracting the working population, especially the 
educated class. Neither the colonial administrations nor the post-independence governments 
have done enough in investing money for agricultural expansion. The African was regarded 
as a foreigner in the urban centres of his country by the colonial rulers. It is surprising that 
his own nationalist governments have done so little to change this. Admittedly, they have 
freed him to enter or leave the city as he pleases, but he still finds himself a tenant of the 
government or of the non-African land proprietor. The urgency of tackling the problems of 
urbanisation in East Africa has never been greater. 



CHAPTER 3 

Acquisition of Land for Planning and Development 

{a) ACQUISITION 

This chapter examines the Iaws which enable government and public authorities to 
acquire land for public purposes. It covers the powers of compulsory acquisition of land, 
the rules and procedures to be observed in the exercise of those powers, and the 
compensation and remedies available to persons affected. 

During colonial administrations in East Africa, the official policy was that all the land 
in townships and trading centres was in the ownership of the Crown. Thus, section 20 
of the Crown Lands Ordinance of Uganda enacted as early as 1903 provided, 

‘Notwithstanding any law or custom to the contrary, it shall bc unlawful for any person to 
occupy any Crown land within the boundaries of any township or trading ccntre unless such 
occupation is in pursuance of 3 valid licencc or lease which in the case of a licence has been 
issued by the Governor or by LI person who is in occupation himself pursuant to a lawful least 
or sub-lease’.‘6 

The licences were to be issued at the discretion of the Governor and they were known as 
‘township temporary occupation licences’. The licensee might be authorised to erect 
temporary houses or huts or other temporary buildings on the land, and to plant crops 
on it, provided that these all satisfied the Township Authority or other body or person 
administering the township or the trading centre. The leases of Crown lands, including 
those granted in townships and trading centres, were of 99 years or less. In either case the 
government was entitled at any time to terminate the lease or licence if the land was required 
for a public purpose or if the lessee or licensee disobeyed any conditions of the lease or 
licence. Termination entitled the occupier to claim compensation for any buildings, crops 
or other improvements on the land. But, as we have seen, the towns and trading centres were 
limited in size and would have been inadequate to accom~lodate any development projects 
which might have followed. Moreover, a considerable part of the town would be leased to 
builders, traders and companies, mainly of European and Asian settlers. The area surrounding 
the town or trading centre continued to be occupied by the Africans in accordance with 
the customary tenure system, or, in the case of Buganda, under the Mailo land system. 
Consequently, any sizeable plan for development would invariably encroach upon some 
ilidividuai’s interest in land, whether of leasehold, licence, freehold or customary tenure, 
and becau+se of this, it was necessary to enact laws of compulsory acquisition. The powers of 
compulsory acquisition in Uganda were governed by an Indian Act, the Land Acquisition 
Act of 1894, which was incorporated into the laws of Uganda by an Order of the Secretary 

of State for the Colonies by invoking Article 3 of the Africa Order in Council, 1891, under 
which he was authorised to adopt certain British Acts and other Acts prevailing in other 

I6 cap. I 17. 

22 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 23 

colonies in the colonies and territories of British Africa. The Order continued in force with 
slight amendments until the attainment of independence and provided for such matters as 
the declaration of the intended acquisition of land, enquiries into the area of land acquired, 
claims for compensation and appeals to the Court, as well as the procedures to be followed. 

Since her independence, Uganda has had three constitutions, each of which introduced 
certain changes which radically altered the previous position. The one thing which has 
remained unaltered is the entrenchment of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the 
individual which by provision include the right to own and enjoy property. Article 13 of 
the 1967 constitution, the third in the series, provides, 

‘No property of any description shall be compulsorily taken over and no interest in or right 
over property of any description shall be compulsorily acquired except where the following 
conditions are satisfied, that is to say . .’ 

Then the article proceeds to name and describe the circumstances under which property 
may be compulsorily taken or acquired. One of the circumstances in which property may 
be acquired is for a public purpose. The acquisition is only effective if it is made with 
reference to any written law which specifically refers to the taking of possession or 
acquisition of property, and contains a provision for the prompt payment of adequate 
compensation and the securing to any person having an interest in or right over the property 
a right of access to the High Court for the determination of his interest or right, the legality 
of the taking of possession or acquisition and the amount of the compensation to be paid. 
Until the military coup d’Ctut in January 197 1, the constitution was the supreme law of 
the land and prevailed against any other law which was in conflict with its provisions, at 
any rate to the extent of inconsistency. Moreover, the chapter incorporating the rights and 
freedoms of the individual was entrenched by Article 3 (2) of the constitution in that its 
provisions could not be altered or amended by Parliament except by a two-thirds majority 
on the second and third reading of a Bill proposing the alteration or amendment. Only the 
elected members of the National Assembly were entitled to participate in the voting 
intended to affect the entrenched clauses. Between 1969 and 197 1, the case of Shah v. 
The Attorney-General of Uganda was decided in the High Court, debated in the National 
Assembly and discussed in learned legal journals, on the question of how far the government 
and Parliament could alter or ignore the constitutional provisions dealing with the rights to 
property. Shah, the applicant, successfully challenged an Act of Parliament which purported 
to deprive him of a judgment award against the government of Uganda. The government 
had refused to honour its obligation under a judgment decree and when Shah applied for 
an order of mandamus to force the Secretary to the Treasury to pay the debt, the 
government initiated the Local Government (Amendment 2) Act which purported 
retrospectively to invalidate such proceedings and to render illegal any transactions which 
gave rise to Shah’s cause of action. In a subsequent declaratory judgment, the Constitutional 

Court of Uganda invalidated the Act as being in conflict with the constitution and’ordered 
the mandamus application to be proceeded with. The order was duly granted and the 
Secretary to the Treasury was forced to pay the debt under the threat of a warrant of 
arrest. Since the passing of the 1967 constitution and the decision in Shah v. The A ttorrrey- 

General of‘ Ugarda, the country has experienced yet another constitutional change, this 
time by way of a military coup d’dut. Under a subsequent military proclamation, the 
constitution, though not abolished, is no longer the supreme law of the land and 
may be overridden by military decrees. Nonetheless, the military government has in 

a declaration reiterated the right to property by affirming that human rights and the 



24 Progress in Planning 

fundamental freedoms of the individual shall be preserved. Thus from the above discussion 
it is clear that the Uganda government’s power compulsorily to acquire private interests in 
property is subject to the provisions of the constitution, the rule of law and to the 
jurisdiction of the High Court to determine the legality of the acquisition and the adequacy 
of the compensation offered. As we are merely concerned with land and planning our 
examination will be limited to those laws which deal specifically with compulsory 
acquisition of land. 

Besides the constitution, there are other statutes and regulations under which compulsory 
powers of acquisition may be exercised, not only by the Uganda government but by other 
public authorities. First, the law allows amicable negotiations between persons having an 
estate or an interest in land and public authorities who wish to acquire the land in the public 

interest. No specific rules of procedure are provided for this type of acquisition. Presumably 
the law simply assumes that the negotiations and any resulting agreement would be in 
accordance with the general principles of contract. It is provided by section 18 of the Land 
Acquisition Act that, 

‘Nothing in this Act shall prevent the Government from cntcring into an agreement with a person 
having an interest in the land whereby, 

(a) that person’s interest in land is acquired by the Government; 
or 

(b) that person’s claim to compensation for land under this Act is settled by the grant of 
other land or in any other way.’ 

In the event of the negotiations failing or if the public authority considers them unsuitable, 

for example when they cause unnecessary delays, resort is made to the enabling Acts. 
Powers of compulsory acquisition are available under certain specific Acts dealing with 
public services and public works. Under the Electricity Act, the Electricity Board may, with 
the approval of the Minister, acquire an easement in land for the right of constructing, 
laying and supporting electric wires and for installing transmitters. Similar powers exist for 
the Ministry of Information and Communication when laying telegraph and telephone wires. 
Under the Water Works Act, the Water Boards are empowered to acquire land for laying 
water pipes and digging communal water bore holes. Under the Roads Act, the Chief 
Engineer may, with the approval of the Minister, acquire land compulsorily for constructing 
new roads, extending old ones and building camps for road builders and constructors. 
Under the Forests Act and the Preservation of Amenities Acts the appropriate public 
authorities may acquire land in order to declare them forest reserves or preserved amenities 
respectively. These individual Acts are designed primarily to promote the services described 
in the respective provisions and a large area of land is not often involved. Under the Local 
Administrations Act, 1967, local authorities are directed to do or perform two types of 
functions. These have been enumerated in a schedule to the Act and the two categories are 
described as either obligatory or permissive. Obligatory services include primary education, 
health centres, control of pests and famine and the provision of prison and remand centres. 
To perform these obligatory functions, a local authority is empowered to acquire land 
compulsorily to build, for example, a school or a dispensary or to erect a remand centre. 
Each of the Acts mentioned contains provisions for compensating persons whose land or 
interests in land have been affected by the exercise of these powers. 

The greatest, and more detailed, powers of compulsory acquisition exist under Land 

I68 Since writing this the military government has dispossessed many non-Ugandan businessmen, 
particularly of British origin or nationality, of their property, and though it has promised compensation 
none has been paid so far. 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 25 

L,aw Legislation when the land is required for a public purpose. Thus, section 24 of the 

Town and Country Planning Act, 195 1, provides that the Planning Board may ~compulso~ly 

acquire land for a public purpose’ provided that such land is subsequently used only for, 
or in connection with, ‘the scheme for which it is to be acquired and as approved or modified 
by the Minister’. Under the Land Acquisition Act of 1965 which provides the details of 
compulsory acquisition and compensation, the Minister is authorised to empower any 

public officer, ‘to enter upon any land and survey, dig, or bore into the sub-soil and remove 
samples and do anything necessary’ in order to ascertain the suitability of the land for a 

public purpose. Section 2 of the Act further provides that whenever the Minister is 
satisfied that land is required by the government for a public purpose, he may, by statutory 
instrument, make a declaration to that effect. The Act does not define what a public 
purpose is, nor does it re-enact the provisions of section 6 of the Indian Land Acquisition 
Act of 1894 which was repealed and which had provided that the Minister’s declaration 
‘shall be conclusive evidence that the land is needed for a public purpose’. Under the Public 
Land Act, 1967, all public land in Uganda is vested in a Land Commission and for the 
purposes of performing its statutory functions and duties the Commission may 

‘acquire and hold land or rights, easements or interests in land, erect, alter, enlarge, improve or 
demolish any building or other erection on any land held by it, sell, lease or otherwise deal with 
such land, cause surveys, plans, maps, drawings and estimates of the land to be made and do 
and perform all such other acts necessary for or incidental to the exercise of its powers and 
duties.’ 

Therefore anyone wishing to develop part of public land or to acquire it for private use, 
whether it is leased or occupied, need only apply to the Land Commission which would be 

able to invoke its powers of acquisition. Unlike the land in private proprietorship, no 
elaborate rules of procedure for depriving those occupying land of their rights and interests 
were deemed necessary by the legislature. Notwithstanding the presence of a tenant or 
licensee, the Minister may, by written requisition, call upon the occupier to permit an 
authorised undertaker to have access to the land to carry out major or minor public works. 
Such an undertaker may be further authorised to remove from the land, stone, murram or 
similar materialin order to build, maintain or repair major public works. Section 34 of the 
Act empoweis any public authority which controls public land to enter it at reasonable 
times and view the state of any alienated public land. Government agents may also conduct 

geological surveys, dig and bore into the sub-soil and remove samples. In addition, the 
controlling authority has the power at any time, and especially where the conditions of the 
grant have been infringed, to resume occupation of alienated public land. All these powers 
are subject to making good any damage caused to buildings and crops, and to the payment of 

com~nsation for the land or materials used or taken or affected by such work, entry or 
resumption of occupation. Any dispute about compensation is referred to arbitration as 
established by the general law of Uganda. 

(b) PROCEDURAL RULES 

A number of procedural rules exist for the exercise of powers of compulsory acquisition. 
The Minister’s declaration that the land is required for a public purpose must be by way of 
statutory instrument. This must specify the location and the approximate area of the land 
to be acquired and, if a plan of the land has been made, a place and time at which the plan 
may be inspected. The Minister causes a copy of the declaration to be served on the 
registered proprietor, occupier and controlling authority of the land, If no plan is available 
at the time of the declaration the Minister must direct an assessment officer to mark and 



26 Progress in P~annjng 

measure the land and produce a plan of it. Soon after the declaration, the assessment officer 
causes a notice to be published in the Gazette and prominently exhibited on or near the 
land, and copies must be served on the owners, occupiers and controlling authority. The 
notice must state that the government intends to take possession of the land and that 
claims to all interests in the land may be made to the assessment officer. Further, it must 
give all the particulars of the land and invite everyone with an interest in it to appear 

personally or by agent before the assessment officer on a certain day and time and place, all 
of which must be clearly specified. Unless the Minister directs otherwise, the day on 
which the interested parties are to be heard must be not earlier than 15 days or more than 
30 days from the pub~~ation of the notice. This is to enable the interested parties to state 
the nature of their interests, the amount and particulars of their claims to compensation 
and objections they may have to the published plan. The assessment officer may require 
that this information and the particulars of the claims should be made in writing and signed 
by the claimants or their agents. 

Several comments may be made on these preliminary rules of procedure. It will have 

been noticed that the owners and occupiers are not entitled to challenge the reasonableness 
of the Minister’s declaration. The only right they have is to question the accuracy of the 
plan published with, or after, the declaration. They are merely asked to declare their 
interests in the land and to claim compensation for these. The requirement that sufticient 
notice should be given to parties affected is a fundamental feature in the exercise of powers 
of compulsory acquisition. The provisions of the Act which concern such notice are barely 

adequate. The necessity to publish the notice in the ~~)v~~r~l?~~,~l~ Gazette may have been 
copied from the English law, but it serves little purpose in a country like Uganda. The 
Government Printer publishes a limited number of Gamtr? issues for government 
departments and it is not unusual for only one copy to circulate from department to 
department within one Ministry. The chances of private individuals having access to the 
Gazette are almost nil. Consequently, it is impossible for persons whose land rights and 
interests are affected by a compulsory declaration to obtain the information from the 
Gazette unless they or their friends work in some government institution which has access 
to the Gazette. Thus, publication in the Gazette fultils the legal requirement without giving 
any information to the interested parties. In any case, both the Gazette and the notices 
displayed in public and on or near the land to be acquired are written in the official 
language which is English. Few landowners and occupiers are able to read and understand 
English; therefore little is gained by fixing the notice onto the property of or serving it 
personally on the person whose land is affected when it is written in a language he does not 

understand. 

Kiapi,17 has proposed that if the government wants to take action which affects private 
rights and intends also to inform the public of its intention, then it should create a special 
newsletter written in a language which the persons likely to be affected understand. He 
cites the cases of Kenya and Tanzania, where Kiswahili is used for information purposes. 
There can be no doubt that the use of the vernacular languages to disseminate government 
information is the most efficient method and has been effective in these two countries, 
especially in Tanzania where nearly everyone understands Kiswahili. However, the system of 
a newsletter has its own dictations. The fact that it would need to be published in at 
least half a dozen languages to reach all the areas of the country might prove expensive: 
moreover, not all the persons likely to be affected are able to read. There is one other 

l7 Abraham, in Land Law Reform in Easf Africa, p. 157. 



Urban Planning Law in East Africa 27 

method which may be proposed. This is the practice of holding barazas - a method which 

was extensively used during the colonial ad~nistration. A baraza is a formal meeting, the 
holding of which will have been notified to all the people in one locality by the chiefs. 
The inhabitants are told that some local or government official will attend the meeting at 
a given place and time to explain or discuss some government policy and everyone is urged 
to be present. A baraza has two advantages: since it is held locally it is likely to attract as 
many people as possible, particularly those likely to be affected by a planning scheme; 
secondly, the meeting would give an opportunity to the people to discuss the merits of the 
scheme and to raise objections. The officials would be able to explain the benefits of the 
public purpose for which the land is to be compulsorily acquired. The exercise would thus 
directly involve the participatioh of the people in the planning of their area ~ a principle 
which is often missing in planning law and development. Invariably local planning 
com~ttees are composed of the local people who can communicate in the local vernacular 
and these could be used in the giving of the notice to the people affected at a local baraza. 
The baraza would supplement the statutory notice to be given by the Board or the Minister 

of the intention to acquire the land. 
A point may be made here on the requirement of serving the notice on the registered 

proprietors and occupiers of the premises or alternatively, on or near the premises. While 

it is admitted that in the final analysis personal service is the most effective, a considerable 
number of the registered owners tend to be chiefs or civil servants and are liable to be 
transferred from time to time, while many of the occupiers tend to be sub-tenants with little 
stake in the property. Thus, there is no guarantee that the served notices will come to the 
knowledge of the interested parties. For this reason, it is submitted that the time allowed in 
the notice is too short. A period of three months or more might be more realistic. It is 
also suggested that the acquiring authority might use the mediunt of radio as an alternative 
(but not exclusive) method of informing interested parties that the government or the 
Board, as the case may be, intends to acquire land compulsorily for a public purpose. 
Radio is used more extensively as a medium of information than any other in Uganda. 
The radio message would disclose the land affected, its location and known owners or 
occupiers. It would name the place and time as we11 as the officer who would be present 
when the inquiry was to be held. 

(c) COMPENSATION 

Section 20 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1965, provides, 

‘The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make Regulations for the assessment and payment 
of compensation under this Act and generally for giving full effect of the provisions and purposes 
of this Act.’ 

In so doing, the Act departed from the provisions of the Received Law which had regarded 
compensation to be of so much importance as not to be left to the discretion of the Minister. 
Part III of the Land Acquisition Act, 1899, which applied a similar Indian Act, provided 
detailed rules for procedure, notices, matters to be considered in deter~ning com~nsation 
and rules for the amount of compensation, forms of award, appeals, costs, and interests 
to be charged and paid. With slight alterations and amendments the statutory instruments 
made under section 20 are in conformity with the provisions of this part. We have seen that 
with the declaration of compulsory acquisition of the land, the interested parties have 15 

clear days within which to disclose their interests and particulars of their claims to the 
assessment officer. On the appointed day this officer shall proceed to hold an inquiry into 



28 Progress in Planning 

claims and objections made in respect of the land and shall then make an award under his 
hand specifying (a) the true area of the land, (b) the compensation which in his opinion 

should be allowed for the land and (c) the apportionment of the compensation among the 
persons known or believed by him to have an interest in the land, whether or not they have 
appeared before him. For the purposes of the inquiry, the assessment officer has the same 
powers as a magistrate’s court. He can summon and compel the attendance of witnesses 
and order the production of relevant documents. In determining the amount of 
compensation to be awarded the assessment officer is to be guided by the following 
considerations: the market value of the land at the time of publishing the declaration; the 
damage sustained by removing. standing crops or trees on the land, damage or loss sustained 
to the remaining property; the fact that as a result of the acquisition, the person interested 
has been compelled to change his residence or place of business; the expenses incurred 
from this; and the damage, if any, bona tide, resulting from the diminution of the profits 
of the land between the time of the publication of the declaration and the time of taking 
possession. Under the Received Law, the owner was entitled to a further 15 per cent on the 
market value, but this is omitted in the regulations.‘7a Moreover, although the otficer takes 
these matters into consideration there is no obligation for his award to be equal to their 
value. Certain matters are specifically excluded from his consideration. These include the 
urgency which led to the acquisition; any disinclination of the interested party to give up 
the land; any damage which, if caused by a private person, would not render such a person 
liable; any damage caused after the declaration; any increase to the value of the land likely 
to accrue because of its acquisition or future use; or any improvements commenced or 
affected without his sanction, after the publication of the declaration. 

A copy of the award is to be served on the relevant Minister and on all interested parties 
and the government is obliged under section 5(4)(b) to pay compensation in accordance 
with the award as soon as may be after the expiry of the time within which an appeal may 
be lodged. Notwithstanding that an appeal has been lodged, the Attorney-General may 
make an appeal to the High Court which may order that payment be made into court on 
such conditions as the High Court deems appropriate. Under section 6 the assessment officer 
takes possession of the land as soon as he has made his award, but he may do so immediately 
after the publication of the declaration if the Minister certifies that it is in the public interest 
for him to do so. The taking of possession by the assessment officer has two legal 
consequences. The acquired land vests in the Land Commission by operation of law and 
any private estate or interest in the land is converted into a claim of compensation under 
the Act. Procedure exists under which the acquired land may be registered. The assessment 
officer forwards the declaration, endorsed with a certificate that he has taken possession, 
to the Registrar of Titles. The latter must register the title notwithstanding any inconsistency 
with the Registration of Titles Act. Section 8 deals with a declaration relating to the 
acquisition of houses, buildings and manufactories. Where only part of suc