Reddem International organised a well-attended community dialogue at Katabi town council headquarters in Kitala on land rights for widows and orphans, aimed at promoting public awareness, access to justice and giving hope to the most vulnerable members of the community.
The event held on Thursday 25th, September brought together legal professionals, local leaders, and members of the public to foster greater understanding of the widows’ and orphans’ rights, court operations, judicial reforms, and citizens’ legal rights.
Presiding over the event, the Entebbe Chief Magistrate who’s also the Ag deputy Registrar of Entebbe High Court, Stella Maris Amabilis explained that parliament passed the Succession Act Cap 268 to protect the rights of widows in respect to inheriting the land of their deceased spouses, and ror the protection of children from being removed fromn the land of their deceased parents, adding, “The same Act goes ahead to grant specific rights and shares to widowS and children in the estate of a deceased spouse or parent who dies intestate.”
She also noted that the Succession Act protects a widow’s right to the matrimonial home and family land, preventing her from being evicted under S.25, whereby the Land Act requires the written consent of a spouse before a man can sell or transact on family land.
“In cases of intestate succession, the surviving spouse(s) collectively receive 20% ofthe deceased’s estate while children collectively receive 75% of the estate. The law treats all children, both legitimate and illegitimate, as equals. The Succession Act prohibits the eviction of orphaned children from their residence,” she said.
Her worship Amabilis further highlighted that enforcement of land rights for widows and orphans is challenged by the legal recognition of the applicability of both statutory and customary laws, which often leads to inconsistencies and conflicts.
“Customary social norms largely still deem men to be the primary landowners and decision-makers, making it difficult for women to assert their land rights, which impacts the welfare of their children,” she added.
The Entebbe Chief Magistrate therefore pointed out the need to engage cultural and religious leaders to become champions of justice within their communities in the application of customary laws, adding, “These are very important partners in the alignment of tradition with the laws of the land that create and protect the land rights of widows and children.”
She also urged the hosts, Redeem International, to continue to provide free legal services to widows and children within the Entebbe area, a service for which they are all grateful.
Patrick Mubiru, the deputy RDC of Busiro South, lauded the organisation together with the stakeholders, including the local leaders, for their support towards fighting for the land rights of the most vulnerable members of the community.
“Together, let us secure land rights for widows and children and ensure justice for future generations,” he noted.
Ronald Kalema, the Katabi town council chairperson expressed commitment to continue supporting the organisation and residents on land-related issues as well as setting on a path where widows and children in Katabi, Entebbe and Uganda at large, get toeffectively enjoy the land rights already afforded to them by the Constitution and statutory laws to have a knock-on effect of bringing justice and securityto widows and children, and ensure the prosperity of our nation.
Entebbe District Police Commander (DPC), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Steven Twinomugisha lauded Redeem International and other stakeholders for trying to support the orphans and widows, especially in sexually related cases, and cases of land among others.
“Most of these community members, basically lack the knowledge whereby they need to be equipped with this information, be able to fight crime, to be able to support and cooperate with police in giving information in reporting cases of cases related to crime, so that we can deal with them as the constitution mandates the institution to do so,” he said.
Tonny Mukoyo, the program manager for Redeem International Wakiso office explained that succession rights has become a big challenge in the communities, whereby when the breadwinner in a family dies, the widow is evicted from home, crops are slashed, children drop out of school because family members grab everything that was left behind, and so the rights of these people have not been observed, but most of that comes from the fact that many of them are even ignorant of their rights, and when those rights are violated, for those who may know, they do not know where to run to get assistance.
“We are here to increase awareness or to close the knowledge gap around succession rightand s land rights, because one of the biggest assets that is normally grabbed is land because of its value. And again, we know that most families draw their livelihood from land, so in the absence of land, they cannot survive,” he said.
This collaboration is a beacon of hope, working toward a future where widows and orphans in Entebbe and Uganda at large can reclaim their rights and live with dignity.
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