Given the negative experience with titling programmes in many African countries – which have focused on individual ownership and often applied simplistic new categories of ownership to complex situations, disadvantaging women and other marginalised groups 115 – it needs to be ensured that the registration processes not unduly simplifies the situation and actually secures rights for vulnerable groups like women or children as provided for in the Land Act(see Section 5(1e) and(1g)) 116 . This requires both sensitisation of the competent authorities and the society as a whole. Further, distortion of communal land use, especially of grazing grounds or water and of community or family ownership must be prevented. In this context, the current provisions which allow application for individual holdings of land created out of communal land(Section 22 Land Act) 117 and those which allow conversion into individual freehold(Section 8 to 14) would need reviewing or at least more guidance as to their implementation 118 . More flexibility in the registration process should be allowed to cater for the need of simple border demarcation in the name of certain communities without the necessity to detail subsidiary or sub-group rights which is often too costly and time consuming. This might be sufficient especially in cases where conflicts arise due to outsider encroachment 119 . These are some of the points which would need to be worked on if the government is really interested in enhancing tenure security. Instead of spending time on the proposed amendment which is likely to diminish tenure security, focus should be on elaborating these issues. IV. Conclusion In conclusion, it is recommended to reject the proposed new Section 32 B concerning customary tenure and at least parts of the other proposed provisions. The proposed amendment of Section 31 which empowers the Minister to determine the rent if Land Boards fail to do so and the proposed Section 32 A which mandates“courts” instead of 115 For instance, in Kenya, where individual registration has been carried out for several decades, titling has weakened the position of the poor and dispossessed pastoralists and subsidiary claimants like women, see e.g.: Quan, The Importance of Land Tenure to Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development in Africa (September 1997), p. 2 and Fitzpatrick, Development and Change(2005) 36(3), pp. 449-75(453). 116 Adoko/Levine, A Land Market for Poverty Eradication? A case study of the impact of Uganda’s Land Acts on policy hopes for development and poverty eradication(June 2005), p. 55. 117 Mwebaza, Integrating Statutory and Customary Tenure Systems in Policy and Legislation: The Uganda Case (1999), p.7/8. 118 The Land Draft Policy e.g. suggests the total deletion of the provisions relating to the conversion from customary land to freehold land, see 5.2.11, 104(v). This might be a good idea as long as such transformation is too costly to benefit especially rural occupants. In the long run it may, however, prevent simplification and unification of law. 119 For this suggestion see Fitzpatrick, Development and Change(2005) 36(3), pp. 449-75(465/466). 34