Property Grabbing (Police)

In Uganda, widows and orphans live in fear of having their homes and their land stolen from them. They have seen it happen to so many others like them – crops and livestock cut to the ground; marital homes set on fire; brick walls pushed down on top of sleeping families; women brutalized with machetes, axes and fists; and children left to starve – all because people who are stronger, harder and more ruthless want to take the land for themselves, and because their husbands and fathers are no longer there to protect them. International Justice Mission believes that the Ugandan Police Force is a vital actor in the fight to protect these women and children from the violent brutality of property grabbing. Like medicine can only save a patient’s life if the needle successfully moves the medicine into the patient’s bloodstream, laws intended to protect the poor and vulnerable can only protect them if the public justice system can move those laws from Parliament to the people they were written to protect. In Uganda’s public justice system, the Ugandan Police Force is “the tip of the needle,” providing the life-saving power of the law to men, women and children who would surely die without it. The purpose of this guide is to sharpen that needle. Inside you will find simple reference resources to assist you in the identification and investigation of crimes typically associated with property grabbing. You also will find a legal outline, explaining the law of succession and the inheritance rights of widows and orphans. It is the hope of International Justice Mission that you will be able to use this guide as a tool to build a future day when widows and orphans no longer have reason to fear that their homes and land will be taken from them.