Lira City Council rejects 194 applications for land titles

Lira City Council has rejected the applications of 194 people seeking to acquire Certificates of Land Titles.

The reasons for rejecting the applications were due to “fraud involved, land too small,” the city’s physical planner, Ambrose Etura told the press this in Lira City.

Etura announced that out of 1,200 land titles submitted for processing, the authority is continuing with the distribution of genuine titles to owners in Ateho Ward, Teso A Ward, and Anai Ward.

This means that a total of 1,200 applied to get a Certificate of Customary Land Ownership

From the above numbers, 251 were approved, 527 were deferred for lacking certain things, and 194 were rejected on the basis that the plots were too small, less than the minimum standard plot of 12x25m, land in a wetland, forest reserve or in the proposed Anai Airport land.

Those whose applications were approved will be forwarded to the Lira City Land Board for processing of the Certificates, Etura added.

He reported that Lira City has processed 927 titles by the office of the physical planners.

Starting Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the City Council will publicise all government land in Lira City, beginning with Coronation Park. This is to allow the community to witness the exercise, as the law allows only 14 days for public scrutiny on such matters.

Before Lira became a city, the physical planner said it covered 36 square kilometers. It now spans over 310 square kilometers. He encouraged all community members to value having formal land titles, as they help in accessing services like bank loans.

“Let us all have land titles for our property,” he urged.

Lira City Council Environmental Officer, Leonard Otika, said the verification will help identify people who are still illegally using wetlands.

He noted that the 2023 presidential directive on wetlands by President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta is still in force.

The Mayor of Lira City Council, Sam Atul, told journalists that the titling program is free of charge, as the VNG NGO, with support from the Government of the Netherlands, has already paid for it.

He called upon all community members to concentrate on this exercise to secure their land.

Pamela Okunia Achidri, who coordinates VNG in Lira City, said this exercise is going to change the lives of many people and will aid the city in drafting its future development plans.