Makerere Don Urges Depoliticization of Urban Planning, Calls for Nationalizing City Land
By Julius Mugaga Tukacungurwa.
Makerere CEDAT: Urban planning in Uganda faces significant challenges due to rapid urbanization, inadequate infrastructure, and socio-economic disparities, despite efforts to implement comprehensive policies and frameworks.
Uganda must remove politics from urban planning and consider nationalizing land in cities to curb chaotic growth, Associate Professor Kizito Maria Kasule Makerere University’s Deputy Principal of CEDAT warned Thursday during a validation workshop for the Urban Expansion Planning Project.
Recalling Kampala’s transformation since 1989, he said areas like Kikumi Kikumi and Kiwunya Parish were once “banana plantations,” but today “everyone is building, putting up the house anyhow, the way they want.”
He cited the failed Namungoona upgrade, where World Bank-funded planned housing was sold off and “new slums emerged” nearby. “We have good plans when it comes to urban planning. Implementation is a problem. Implementation is a problem,” he stressed. “If we want to have proper urban planning in this country, there is an urgent need to remove politics from all matters concerning urban planning. Without that, don’t expect anything positive.”
He proposed radical reform: “I strongly feel there is a need for the government to look into the matters of nationalizing land in urban centers… to allow proper planning.”
He cited, there is a need to be firm when it comes to the implementation of matters concerning urban planning.”
In the light of this, Makerere University has established a national knowledge hub to address unplanned urban growth, the Head Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Makerere CEDAT Dr. Kiggundu Amin Tamale announced.
Key outputs include a digital platform under the new Makerere University Regional Center for Urban Research, Governance and Innovation, which serves as the project’s fulcrum. “Today we already have this knowledge hub in the form of a digital platform, functional and established under the Regional Center,” he noted.
The project trained 98 trainers of trainers on urban expansion planning and developed an online short course with African Urban Lab, offering certificates. It also built a practitioner network with the Urban Authorities Association of Uganda and produced a land management handbook for Greater Kampala.
“Research is very critical. Information is very critical on whatever intervention that you want to implement, including urban expansion planning,” he said, adding that the center aims to train city leaders and “change agents” to improve competitiveness.
In his presentation, Mr. Barabanawe Francis the Secretary General Uganda’s Urban Authorities Association (UAAU) reported soon they will roll out urban expansion planning to all 11 cities, 31 municipalities, and 589 town councils after a seven-year pilot proved effective.
“Our operation in only these areas is because it was something new and experimenting it… But if you experiment something and it succeeds, then you roll over other areas,” he said. The pilot registered success in Jinja, Mbale, Arua, Koboko, and Gulu, confirming the model works.
He warned that developers are subdividing land rapidly: “If we don’t move very fast, and put these roads in place, once they have done all this, where shall we now pass? It will be very, very difficult.” With Uganda’s 5.4% urbanization rate, “we must make sure we move very fast to precede them, to be ahead of them, and plan ahead of them.”
UAAU’s plan begins with six new cities — Soroti, Lira, Masaka, Mbarara, Hoima, and Fort Portal — where 30-meter-wide arterial roads will link centers to peripheries. “We are going to construct roads, big roads for 30 kilometers in the periphery,” he said.
Town clerks, mayors, and physical planners are key to success: “If you have got a mayor and a town clerk, both of them are positive, there can be no problem.”
He urged town councils to at least budget 30 million shillings for planning, noting government will support implementation, monitoring, and evaluation to ensure Uganda’s urban future is planned, not chaotic.
On his part regarding the performance of Cities under this project, Eriaku William National UEP Program Coordinator revealed Arua is emerging as Uganda’s fastest-growing city but faces critical gaps in land ownership, planning capacity, and road implementation.
“Arua is currently the largest city in the country… it borders two international borders, DRC and South Sudan,” he noted, yet only 8 of 100 planned arterial roads under its 30-year urban expansion plan are open.
He stressed cities need road networks within 30 years. Comparing cities, Eriaku said Mbale “used to be the cleanest city in East Africa, but this is no more,” and Jinja “used to be the industrialized town in Uganda, but this also is no more.”
Key challenges: one city lacks a physical development plan, most have no land officer or staff surveyor, and “they have only one physical planner.” City-owned land is minimal; Arua’s 401 sq km has almost no council land, “a very bad indicator.”
The project pushed land banking and graders, with Arua acquiring 20 acres. Some cities resist pledging for land banking or budgets. Using 11 indicators, results will guide scaling to 11 cities, 31 municipalities, and 589 town councils.
On behalf of the Commissioner Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ssenyonjo Andrew revealed the ministry will mainstream urban expansion planning into national policy and ministry budgets to ensure city leaders finance and implement prepared plans.
“What we are going to rely on this time around is to strengthen it and ensure that as we proceed, we are able to convince these leaders to be able to pass the budgets, which budgets are necessary for the urban expansion plan problem,” the Ministry representative said. “Where the plans are and are being prepared, these plans have to be implemented. And their implementation requires financing.”
The Ministry is reviewing the National Land Use Policy, with urban expansion planning now specified in the Regulatory Impact Assessment. “We are hopeful that during the review process, we shall have urban expansion planning entrenched in the National Land Use Policy, which will be able to guide cities and other urban local governments.”
Starting July 2026, the Uganda Cities and Municipalities Infrastructure Development Program will direct its Institutional Strengthening Grant toward urban expansion planning. The Ministry is also collaborating with Cities Alliance in Arua and Koboko to ensure the implementation of the plans that we have prepared is flawless.
For Mabala Samuel, Country Technical Advisor Cities Alliance, Uganda must abandon “business as usual” and mandate 30-year urban expansion plans for all councils to curb chaotic growth.
“It’s all about recognizing that urbanization is happening very fast and we don’t have the capacity to respond,” he said. “Urbanization does not respect those administrative boundaries. It always goes beyond… we are not responding appropriately.”
Noting recent demolitions of road-reserve kiosks, he asked: “Can that somebody who gave that directive… direct that all urban councils must have urban expansion plans 30 years from now?”
With over 60% of Ugandans in slums and 70% of GDP from cities, Mabala stressed planning drives growth: “The cities that are well planned serve as engines for economic growth, if we could only invest more in our cities, we would accelerate our transformation.”
He urged making new mayors “champions of the urban expansion plans,” leveraging data, and tapping PPPs: “Urbanization can be the most powerful driver of national development. The choices we make today will determine the path.”
Relatedly Derek Muhwezi the National UEP Mentor and Physical Planning Board President noted Urban authorities have capacity to prepare their own expansion plans without external support.
“The need for planning for urban expansion before the expansion takes place is very important,” he said. “Capacity for the urban authorities to prepare their own plans without relying on support from others is very important.”
He stressed land banking and funding: “Urban councils are part of the people. They must own their own land. Since the project started, some councils have started banking land.” On financing, he added: “You cannot milk a cow that you don’t feed. Without the Department of Physical Planning being supported, it’s very hard to get a deal out of it. Councils don’t need to wait for money from the Centre.”
The three-year initiative, funded by Cities Alliance and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), targets Mali, Jinja, Gulu, Arua, and Koboko Municipal Council amid rapid settlement growth where “many areas are still un-serviced” and “lack the required infrastructure, like roads, power lines, water,” he said.