Uganda, May 7 -- For much of Uganda's history, the mailo-kibanja relationship has been treated primarily as a legal problem.

The dominant assumption held that once the law clearly recognised kibanja occupancy and protected it from arbitrary eviction, economic development would naturally follow.

Uganda acted decisively on this premise. The 1995 Constitution entrenched land rights, while the Land Act of 1998 recognised lawful and bona fide occupancy, regulated landlord-tenant relations, and restricted eviction.

The Registration of Titles Act (RTA) preserved the doctrine of title by possession to address abandoned land. Despite this extensive legal framework, however, the mailo-kibanja divide persists.

Mailo areas remain highly fragmente...