Members of Parliament from Acholi, working through the Acholi Parliamentary Group, have agreed to partner with Operation Wealth Creation and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to secure funding for issuing Certificates of Customary Ownership. The commitment emerged from a consultative meeting between the legislators and Operation Wealth Creation Chief Coordinator Gen. (Rtd) Caleb Akandwanaho at Kirema Heritage Farm in Kapeka, Nakaseke District, at the weekend. The discussions centred on accelerating economic transformation in the sub-region, promoting agricultural commercialisation and industrialisation, tackling unemployment and strengthening land ownership rights.
The planned initiative will see Operation Wealth Creation and the parliamentary group mobilise resources to support the demarcation of customary land, identification of boundaries and registration of land ownership. This work will be done in collaboration with district land institutions, customary leaders and affected communities. The objective is to reduce land disputes, improve land productivity and enable communities to participate more effectively in investment and enterprise development. For savers, borrowers, business owners and investors in Uganda, clearer land ownership rights could unlock new collateral for borrowing and create more stable foundations for agricultural investment.
The meeting also identified unemployment as a critical challenge for the region's development. Participants called for partnerships with private-sector investors and agricultural off-takers to create economic opportunities. Potential participants identified include Equator Seeds, Bukhona, AK Purongo and Jolly Laker, among others. These partnerships are intended to provide farmers with reliable markets, technical support and opportunities for value addition.
A key focus will be agricultural industrialisation through public-private partnerships involving Operation Wealth Creation, the parliamentary group, private investors, agricultural producers, cooperatives and other stakeholders. These partnerships would support commercial farming, structured production, aggregation, storage, agro-processing, value addition and access to reliable markets. Priority has been given to viable agricultural value chains, particularly maize and coffee, where private-sector investment could strengthen market linkages, expand opportunities for agro-processing and increase farmers' incomes. The proposed interventions aim to link land security with agricultural investment and enterprise development, enabling communities to benefit from more organised production and stronger market access.