The impact of land rights on housing development in Kampala; Kawempe Division

Abstract

Housing is the second basic need apart from food to a human life. Housing should meet the criteria of adequacy, affordability and decent. A demand for housing is rapidly increasing in Uganda, and this has led to the introduction of various laws and policies such as the National housing policy so as to avail houses for the ever increasing population. However, any development takes place on land available in a given place, hence the notion, “access precedes development.” Accessibility is normally driven by the land tenure in a given area. There is increased urbanization in Kampala as well as unprecented city growth, which has come along with a vast growth in the slum areas especially in my area of research, which is Kawempe Division. Slum areas in this division include, BwaiseI, BwaiseII, BwaiseIII, Kalerwe, Kazo-Angola, Kyebando, Kisalosalo, Makerere 3, Mpererwe, MulagoII, Nsooba, and Ssebaggala KawempeII. And all these co-exist with well-developed places around the City. Research shows that 60% of the urban population lives in slum areas. The study employed a case study and descriptive designs on a sample 60respondents that were selected using purposive and simple random sampling techniques with the questionnaires and interview guides as the data collection tools and the data was analyzed using thematic content analysis with the help of Microsoft office word and excel to draw tables, graphs and charts. The study has revealed that however much land tenure in a given place has a direct impact on the nature and degree of housing development in that place, there are other factors which also contribute to the level or degree of housing in a given place. These range from poverty, political interference and the nature of the legal framework of our country. The researcher put out several recommendations that could be a solution to the emergency and rapid increase of slums as well as informal housing units that are constructed by the people, which range from political, economic to social aspects.