The new Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development has has once again sounded a strong warning to a section of individuals who forcefully evict people from land.
Nabakooba noted that one of the key tasks that the President assigned her Ministry is to bring an end to the rampant illegal land evictions in the country.
“During my term in this office, I have therefore prioritized the issue of land evictions. These illegal evictions have made life so difficult for many Ugandans,” she said.
Nabakooba made these remarks while launching the toll free call center that will be used by victims of forceful evictions.
“Many families throughout the country are living under the fear of the unknown. This is because of the constant threats to their homes and gardens,” she added: “The other area of prioritization is streamlining all major services by utilizing new technology innovations.My office has received so many complaints about the difficulties people face while accessing the different services,” she added.
Her statement follows an expiry of the 42 days lockdown where the government had banned illegal evictions of anyone due to the lockdown. Nabakooba noted that a lot of the transactions and services are disconnected making it very frustrating for many people. She said streamlining the operations of the entire lands sector is therefore a core priority as well.
“It is against this background that the Ministry has decided to put in place a national call center on Landissues. The call center has a Toll-Free Line that is now available for the public to call on urgent issues of land,” she said. The Toll-Free line is 0 800 100 004
This call center she said is being operated by a team of well trained personel with good communication skills to engage with the public.
“I therefore urge the public to use this Toll Free line for the following purposes; Report cases of illegal Land evictions, Report incidents of corruption and bribery, Follow up on reports of delayed land transactionsBring to us Complaints and reports on poor service delivery and absenteeism,follow up on Compensation and valuation issues, seek information on the Projects under the Ministry, report fraud and forgeries and those abating it and any other concerns in the land, Housing and Urban,” she said.
“Our call center agents are well connected to all the relevant law enforcement agencies in the country. When an issue is reported through the Toll-Free line, our agents will be able to mobilise the relevant local authorities to respond immediately,” she added.
Nabakooba vowed to work hard to restore public confidence in their work and apart from the call center, they are also working to set up a public online portal for the general public.
“The online portal will enable members of the public to access all relevant land related information. This is still part of our Electronic Land Management vision that I alluded to earlier on,” she said adding
“The ‘e’ land management system will eventually take everything online.This will help us to overcome cases of bribery, corruption and middle men in land matters,” All these efforts she said are being done to ensure that the Ministry delivers on its promise of improved service delivery.
