Legalizing Marriage as a Pathway to Secure Land Rights in Uganda: Fact or Myth?

Land in Uganda remains one of the most politically and socially charged assets, shaping identity, belonging, livelihoods, and economic security for most small-scale farmers. Yet, despite the centrality of land to national development, Uganda continues to grapple with persistent land conflicts underpinned by cultural norms, weak legal literacy, corruption, and inadequate formal documentation. For rural women in particular, these challenges are intensified by the complex relationship between marital status and property rights. Uganda’s legal system recognizes marriage as a gateway to critical land protections, but the lived experiences of millions of women reveal a profound mismatch between legal promises and on-the-ground realities. This raises a pressing question: is formalizing marriage genuinely a pathway to securing land rights, or is the idea merely a myth overshadowing deeper structural injustices?

Uganda’s demographic profile underscores the urgency of this issue. The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS 2022) indicates that 61 percent of women aged 15–49 are married or cohabiting, with cohabitation representing a significant share of these unions. Cohabitation remains prevalent across rural communities because it is socially accepted, less costly, and often seen as culturally adequate. However, Uganda’s constitutional and statutory protections apply only to legally recognized marriages. Article 31(1)(b) of the 1995 Constitution guarantees equal rights in marriage, during marriage, and at dissolution, but these protections are activated only where the marriage is registered under one of Uganda’s marriage laws. Cohabitation has no legal status, no statute governing it, and does not qualify partners for protections under the Marriage Act, the Customary Marriage (Registration) Act of 1973, the Marriage and Divorce of Mohammedans Act, or the Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act.

Judicial interpretation further reinforces this gap. The Supreme Court in Julius Rwabinumi v. Hope Bahimbisomwe held that matrimonial property rights arise from demonstrable contribution, not from cohabitation or emotional partnership. This doctrine leaves women in non-formalized unions in a precarious position, particularly when relationships span decades but lack documentary evidence of contribution. Under the Succession Act of Uganda (amended 2022), only a legally recognized spouse may inherit the matrimonial home and estate. Partners in cohabitation are not recognized as spouses and therefore cannot inherit property, claim family land, or challenge property sales upon the death of a partner.

The situation becomes even more complex within customary settings. Customary marriage remains the most common form of union in Uganda, yet the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD) reported in its 2021 Land Sector Review that fewer than 45 percent of customary marriages are formally registered. Unregistered customary marriages are often treated as informal relationships, denying women essential protections such as those under Section 39 of the Land Act, which requires spousal consent before family land is mortgaged or sold. The Uganda Law Reform Commission has, since 2015, repeatedly emphasized that failure to formalize customary marriages is among the leading causes of land dispossession for women, especially during widowhood or separation.

The realities emerging from communities reinforce these findings. Evidence from the Eastern and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF Uganda), through its Land Rights Support Centre, reveals widespread vulnerability among women in non-formalized unions. Recent land and corruption literacy camps in Gomba and Mityana districts, conducted in partnership with MLHUD, the Directorate of Integrity and district authorities, exposed a common pattern: the majority of unions were non-formalized, and most women did not understand the legal consequences of this status. Women reported being excluded from land decisions, denied consent rights, and unable to challenge land sales. One testimony from Gomba told of a woman who lived with her partner for fifteen years and mothered five children, only to find the man legally married another woman and sold their land without her knowledge. Because her union had no legal recognition and her name appeared on none of the agreements, she lost her home, livelihood, and ability to challenge the transaction. This narrative reflects a systemic problem affecting millions of Ugandan women whose land security is contingent on marital recognition rather than their lived contribution or human rights.

ESAFF Uganda’s Land Rights Support Centre has intensified efforts to close these knowledge gaps through legal aid clinics, civic awareness sessions, land documentation guidance, mediation, and support for Busuulu payments for tenants. Beyond the literacy camps, ESAFF Uganda has committed to advancing gender-responsive land governance in alignment with Uganda’s Land Policy and the National Development Plan. It continues to advocate for formal marriage registration as a key safeguard for spousal land rights, while simultaneously demanding reforms in the land administration system to ensure that land security does not depend solely on marital status. ESAFF’s work is grounded in the recognition that secure land rights are not only a domestic justice issue but also a regional and global obligation for Uganda.

Whether legalizing marriage is a fact-based solution becomes clearer when examined through international and continental commitments. Under the Maputo Protocol, Uganda is obligated to protect women’s property and inheritance rights, regardless of marital arrangements. The African Union’s Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa emphasizes the need for gender-equitable land rights and urges states to remove social and administrative barriers that deny women tenure security. Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Land Policy (2013), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), all of which Uganda is party to, require the state to secure women’s land rights irrespective of customary or social constraints on marriage. Formalizing marriage helps Uganda align with these commitments by ensuring that women gain access to constitutional and statutory protections, especially concerning land, matrimonial property, and inheritance.

If formalizing marriage is treated as a myth and remains unprioritized, Uganda risks undermining progress toward multiple global and regional frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (particularly SDG 1.4 on equal land rights and SDG 5 on gender equality), the African Development Bank’s Gender Strategy, and the Land Governance Assessment Framework benchmarks. Failure to formalize marriages and protect women in all unions perpetuates cycles of landlessness, poverty, land conflicts, gender-based violence, and stalled rural development. Uganda risks continued misalignment with international human rights obligations and stands to lose credibility in its commitments to gender-responsive land governance.

Viewed against the weight of evidence, legalizing marriage emerges as a fact-based and necessary pathway to securing women’s land rights in Uganda. Formal marriage recognition triggers legal protections that shield spouses from property grabbing, land sales without consent, disinheritance, and arbitrary eviction. However, treating marriage formalization as the sole solution would be a myth. Even with legal recognition, tenure insecurity persists where institutions are weak, corruption thrives, and statutory law conflicts with customary norms. Thus, while formalization significantly strengthens women’s land rights, it must be complemented by stronger land governance, anti-corruption reforms, legal literacy, and alignment of customary practices with national and international obligations.

Uganda therefore requires a holistic approach: encourage formal registration of all marriages, including customary ones, while simultaneously reinforcing land administration systems to ensure transparency, equity, and gender responsiveness. ESAFF Uganda’s work demonstrates that when women are empowered with legal knowledge, supported through formalization processes, and protected by accountable institutions, land transforms from a source of vulnerability into a foundation of dignity, justice, and sustainable development. The country’s progress toward its national, regional and global commitments depends not only on recognizing marriages but also on recognizing the inherent rights of every woman to access, own, control and inherit land in Uganda.