Uganda People News: Women demand for land ownership
UG Pulse.com
Mar 3, 2009
Women representatives from six districts have petitioned Parliament over the exclusion of women in the ownership and control of land in the proposed Land Amendment Bill 2007.
ActionAid’s women’s right policy analyst, Harriet Gimbo, says that the current bill does not help to empower women to own land like their spouses.
Gimbo led a team of women from Kalangala, Masindi, Kumi, Lira, Tororo and Katakwi to present a petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Sekandi today.
In the petition, she notes that women’s rights to own and control land are not reflected in the current policy and legal framework related to it. She adds that the levels of domestic violence have increased due to unequal power relations between men and women.
Gimbo called upon Parliament to implement fully the provisions of the laws and policies that guarantee women’s land rights like the controversial Domestic Relations Bill. She suggests that government targets women with incentives for land allocation, utilization as well as facilitate land transactions to promote equal opportunities for all.
Speaker of Parliament, Edward Sekandi, promised to forward the petition to the relevant parliamentary committee.
Sekandi says that Parliament is in the process of finalizing the bill and it will be tabled before the year ends. He adds that the Parliament’s delay to table the bill was due to its poor packaging which is being worked upon.
He says that he is going to push the Physical Infrastructure committee to table it soon.