Squatters Remain A Problem In Uganda: How The Anglican Church Is Fighting Back
MUKONO, Uganda — The Anglican Church of Uganda has unveiled a digital land information management system to curb rampant land grabbing that threatens its vast properties.
Land grabbing remains one of the church’s most pressing challenges in Uganda. Illegal squatters and unscrupulous land dealers have deprived the institution of the property church leaders had planned to develop for religious schools, housing and worship space.
“Land grabbing occurs when land that was previously used by local communities is leased or sold to outside investors, including corporations and governments. Typically, the land is taken over for commodity crops to sell on the overseas market, including for agrofuel and food crops,” according to the National Association of Professional Environmentalists.
The church is one of the country’s largest landowners; much of it was gifted by local chiefs and early wealthy Christians in the 1870s when missionaries sought land for churches, schools, and hospitals. Today, this estate has made it a prime target for land grabbers, including politicians and businesspeople who exploit corruption to seize property. Grabbers often collude with local leaders and lobby top officials, including land ministers, parliamentarians, and even the President’s office, for protection, making it nearly impossible for the Church to reclaim lost land. Despite land reforms under the 1998 Land Act and subsequent amendments in 2001, 2004, and 2010, enforcement remains weak.
The new digital system is one of several recent measures the church has adopted to safeguard its land. The new system captures detailed records of all individuals and institutions occupying church land across the province, according to Rev. Jasper Tumuhimbise Mpirirwe, Group CEO of the Church of Uganda Commissioners Holdings Ltd, the body responsible for managing and developing Church properties. These include schools, health centers, congregations, and community members.
“The system records the individuals who control the use of church land to verify whether they are registered trustees of the Anglican Church of Uganda,” said Mpirirwe, emphasizing. “We want the system to show which land is registered in the church’s name and which is not, so that we have a clear internal reflection.”
In Ntawo Ward, Mukono Diocese, for example, plans to redevelop hundreds of acres stalled recently after grabbers parceled out a significant portion of the land. The Church had intended to use part of it to expand Uganda Christian University and build modern apartments for staff, but the projects were abandoned after grabbers refused to vacate.
Similarly, at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine in Wakiso District, also located in central Uganda, where hundreds of pilgrims gather annually to honor the Uganda Martyrs, the parish vicar, Rev. Esau Bbosa Kimanje, recently warned that encroachment on Church land at both the Anglican and Catholic shrines threatens the space for worshipers and church construction. He noted that, “As the crowds attending the Martyrs Day grow, the land keeps on shrinking due to land grabbing.”
Until now, the church had relied on other strategies, including coffee farming on idle land, tree planting, mass registration of untitled plots, issuing spiritual warnings, and pursuing legal remedies.
Some dioceses have also resorted to costly stopgap measures. The Rt. Rev. Enos Kitto Kagodo, bishop of Mukono Diocese, recently revealed that they spend about Sh10 million (USD $2,803) monthly on private security guards to protect church property. Even so, the diocese has already lost over 200 acres at Nakanyonyi in Nabaale Sub-County and another 100 acres at Kisowera in Nama Sub-County to grabbers. The bishop appealed to the government to support the church, warning that continued losses threaten its very existence.
Speaking at the launch of the digital land information management system in July 2025, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu of the Anglican Church of Uganda stated that the tool would empower the Church’s board of trustees to plan and manage land more effectively.
He also issued a stern warning to grabbers: “This tool will help us identify you and take strong, decisive action against you,” he said, adding that the church will not hesitate to work with police to arrest and prosecute land grabbers.
Dennis Obbo, spokesperson for the Uganda Ministry of Lands, told Religion Unplugged that President Yoweri Museveni had recently directed the ministry to support the church’s fight against land grabbing by registering all its land.
Obbo noted that the Anglican Church had so far submitted 3,107 applications for land registration in 39 dioceses. “We have successfully registered land in the sub-regions of Acholi, Karamoja, and Teso. It may take time to process all titles, but ultimately, this will secure the Church’s land from grabbers,” Obbo said.
In Uganda, like in many other countries, land is a key asset for development. According to the Anglican Church of Uganda’s Land Policy, the church seeks to preserve its land as a spiritual and cultural heritage for future generations while managing it in a way that glorifies God and demonstrates the reality of Christ-transformed communities.
John Awodi, the Diocesan Secretary of the Anglican Diocese of Kampala, implored all the dioceses in the Province of the Anglican Church of Uganda to embrace the Land Information Management System as a way of safeguarding the Church’s land against grabbers.
Additional reporting by Yasiri J. Kasango
John Semakula, an award-winning journalist and alumnus of the Poynter Institute, is based in Mukono, Uganda.