Kampala withdraws proposed compensation Bill

The Ugandan Government has withdrawn a proposed constitutional amendment Bill that sought to allow compulsory acquisition of private land for infrastructural development. Article 26 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be compulsorily deprived of his or her property without adequate compensation. The East African reports that the amendment proposed to insert a clause to enable the government, in case of a valuation dispute, to deposit the compensation amount as assessed by the official government evaluator before taking over ownership of the land. The landowner would be at liberty to take the compensation or undertake litigation. The move came against the backdrop of massive infrastructural projects lined up by government, including railways, dams, roads and parks.