Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba on Friday ordered the arrest of a staff member of the Ministry’s Mukono Zonal Office after he was reported to have lost his client title.

Ms Hanifah Nantongo, a customer service officer, was detained at Mukono Central Police Station for neglect of duty. The title which belonged to Mr Patrick Peter Kirunda was transferred to Ms Nantongo on 3 April 2023 to remove a mortgage.

“We have seen the highest level of negligence because if someone has handed over a title to our officers, they expect it to be kept well,” Minister Nabakooba said during the launch of an online public land portal for Greater Mukono.

The minister noted that all land offices across the country should act as safe places to enable all clients to keep their records without any alteration.

“Someone came forward and testified about how he handed over his title and it got lost in the hands of my officers. They need to explain to the police how this happened,” she added.

After surrendering his initial title to the officer, Mr Kirunda was given 21 days to return for his issue to be resolved, but he claimed last year’s title to no avail.

“My home is in Namutumba and I had to pay transport and hotel charges if I want to come to Mukono which was expensive,” he told the minister, adding that the same officer ordered him to apply for a special title which is very expensive.

The minister said, to his dismay, that the accused could not give a convincing explanation for the charges. “Make sure you have places where you can secure such documents to avoid embarrassments like the ones we encountered today,” Ms Nabakooba said.

In addition, the minister ordered Ms Nantongo to bear all the costs of obtaining a special title for the applicant.

The online public portal was launched for the first time in Wakiso district to facilitate access to remote land information. It will work in conjunction with the existing land information system.

Ms Nabakooba said the portal has already shown the potential to reduce land conflicts as all land transactions are tracked from the comfort of your home or office.

Mukono Lands Principal Administrative Secretary Doreen Tushabe said with the new invention they can do 2,499 land transactions in three days. Before the portal, Ms Tushabe told the minister, they had difficulty verifying documents such as court orders and administrative letters.