2. STUDY FINDINGS

2.1 Characteristics of House Owners

This section discusses the nature and relative importance of the socio-cultural, economic and political factors that facilitate men's and women's engagement in urban housing development. These factors are traced via the processes of assembling the necessary components and inputs to house production that the house owners went through. It was assumed that the house owners' socio-economic and demographic characteristics were crucial in determining the nature of the socio-economic and political factors that could have facilitated their engagement in urban housing development. Table 1 presents the key socio-economic and demographic characteristics of house owners by gender.

Table 1. Key socio-economic and demographic characteristics of house owners, by gender

As shown in table 1, save for marital status and occupation, there were no statistically significant differences in the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of male and female house owners. The majority were aged for over 30 years, had children, belonged to the Ganda ethnic group and had attained not more than ordinary level secondary education. However, only half the women were married compared to 89.8% of their male counterparts and the women were less in the formal sector employment than the men were.

Nonetheless, a closer look at the statistics suggests that the majority of women house owners were older (58.7% were aged over 40), not married (50.0%) and were Ganda (82.0%). Several reasons explain these phenomena. First, societal pressure on women to behave in culturally prescribed "feminine" ways reduces as the women grow older, for the pressure arises out of the desire to control women's sexuality. Thus, with regard to women's engagement in urban housing development, which signifies acquiring an independent status, older women may face less societal resistance than younger women, thereby enabling more of them to develop their own houses. Alternatively, older women may have outgrown the dependence attitudes enough to develop their own houses. Further, some may have realised that their men's ownership on which they could depend was not forthcoming, or they could have felt a need to develop their own for income earning purposes (rentals) even when their men owned houses. However, it could also be that older women over time acquired the economic and other resources requisite for engaging in urban housing development, which younger women may have not yet required. As for half of the women house owners not being in a conjugal union points to the difficulties which married women may face if they engage in urban housing development. Due to fear of antagonizing their marital relations, married women may not engage in urban housing development even if they had the necessary resources. It is also possible that married women may be expecting their husbands to engage in urban housing development on behalf of the entire family; hence, they may exercise less of their capability to engage therein. With regard to 82.0% of the women house owners belonging to the Ganda ethnic group, the Ganda culture is not only more supportive of female inheritance and acquisition of land through purchasing (Obbo 1976, 1984) but is also less resistant to female ownership of houses and other property compared to other ethnic cultures in Uganda.

2.2 Modalities of Access to Land

In Jinja Municipality, land falls under various tenure systems. These include private (mailo) land which takes up to 49% of the total urban land; land owned by Jinja Municipal Council which constitutes 30%; government land under the Uganda Land Commission which comprises 10%; land held by institutions such as hospitals, schools and religious organisations taking up 7% and public land leased to individuals, 4% (Jinja Municipal Council 1972). Land in Mpumudde and Bugembe is part of the 49% private (mailo) land.

Overall, 36.3% of the house owners had inherited the land on which they built their houses while 63.6% had purchased it. There were no statistically significant differences between male and female house owners with respect to modes of land acquisition. Men who had inherited land constituted 38.0%, i.e., 19 out of 50 while women were 32.0%, i.e., 16 out of 50. However, women inherited mainly from fellow women and female relatives (except for those women who inherited from husbands) while the men inherited mainly from male relatives. Men inherited largely from their fathers as a birthright; 15 inherited from their fathers, 3 from their mothers and 1 from his grandfather. For the women, four inherited from husbands, six from maternal relatives, five from fathers and one from her mother. Although some women inherited by virtue of their birthright, it is interesting to note the mechanism through which other women inherited.

Four women reported separately that they were brought as young girls to Jinja from the villages by their maternal female relatives between the late 1950s and early 1960s. All the four reportedly started by assisting with domestic chores in their respective female relatives' homes although one later became a cooked-food vendor for her aunt while one assisted in selling local brew (the relative's business) from home. Of the other two, one obtained employment working as a house cleaner for an Asian family, while the other remained assisting with domestic chores at home. The latter became pregnant but remained a single parent simultaneously taking care of the female relative's children. She remained with her relative and became part of the family so much so that neighbours could not tell whether she was a biological child or not. She had two more children and all remained with her relative who took care of them including school fees. When the elderly relative felt that her niece's children were growing older, she gave her niece a piece of land on which to build. As the niece was not employed, the female relative allowed her to sell off a small piece of the land and use the proceeds to put up three tenements of which she occupied one and rented out the other two for income generation "to maintain her children". It is interesting to note that the female relative who provided the land was also a single mother.

The young girl who became a food vendor was so successful that the business expanded to vending food in several industries in Jinja, which necessitated the employment of two other female assistants. Meanwhile, the aunt was using the profits to put up semi-permanent tenements for renting out. In 1969, as a sign of appreciation the aunt gave her 300/Sh. (equivalent to US $42) with which she set up her own business dealing in charcoal, which she was selling from her aunt's home. She used the profits to construct a three-roomed house in 1973. She used the front room as a shop and the two others for her accommodation.

The girl who became a house cleaner in an Asian family kept all her wages with her aunt. After 6 years of employment, the aunt gave her land and suggested that she uses the income to construct tenements for renting. The girl who was assisting the aunt in selling local brew ultimately became the major income earner for the home. She not only knew how to handle unruly customers but also undertook the wholesale purchasing of the local brew from Bugerere, about 40 kilometres from Jinja town. When the aunt passed away in 1975, the young girl was included among those whom the clan leaders apportioned the deceased's land. The aunt's children and other relatives did not even question the decision. In 1988, one of the deceased aunt's children sold his piece of land to her. Thus, it may be implied that women's inheritance of land also occurs beyond the realms of birthright and/or marital bond, via participation in some social institutions.

However, land inheritance via participation in some social institutions and not as a birthright was not exclusively for women. One male inherited land from his paternal grandfather but not because he subordinated himself and worked for his grandfather without pay as was the case with the women. This male was a relatively wealthy car mechanic in Bugembe, a suburb in Jinja. The grandfather had five sons and eight daughters all of whom were grown-ups. However, neither of these children cared for their father during his old age. Yet, the elderly grandfather did not have any source of income except a "huge" piece of land in Bugembe, which he had obtained from the King of Busoga as a reward for being a loyal servant in the 1940s. By the 1980s, the rent (busulu) from the tenants at will on the land had been eroded by inflation and hence was insignificant. The children of the elderly man advised him to sell off some of the land for his upkeep but the man refused to sell. Therefore, the children also refused to render any assistance. His very old, tin-roofed, wattle-and-daub house collapsed. The grandson assisted by constructing a two-roomed brick and iron house and by providing him with food and medical care until he passed away. The grandson used to visit the old man regularly and keep him company. Meanwhile, the old (by then sick) man heard rumours that his children who had abandoned him were waiting for his death to inherit his land. In 1986, the old man handed over his title to his grandson whom he referred to as his only relative. The old man died in 1991 leaving his grandson a wealthy property owner.

Sixty two per cent of the men and 68.0% of the women had purchased the land on which they built. With the exception of house owners who had titles to their land, there was no clear cut distinction between house owners who were tenants at will (Kibanja holders) with no rights to the land but only to the housing developments on the land. Owners of brick and iron-roofed houses (more permanent) who did not have titles were apparently so sure of their ownership of the land that they considered having a title to their land as unnecessary. Besides, the costs of transferring land and processing a title were said to be quite high for the poor to afford. Hence, although some house owners did not have legal ownership by virtue of not having land titles, they had legitimate ownership arising from having paid for the land, ownership that was also recognized by the former landowners. The ownership was so legitimate that the house owners revealed that they could sell their houses to another party if the need arose. Although the Kibanja holders did not legally own the land, evictions under this system were rare, for the tenant is usually given priority to purchase the land in the event the land owner wishes to sell off, or has to be compensated for the housing developments on the land prior to its sale. Besides, tenancy at-will was institutionalised through a token payment of a kanzu, an ankle length tunic worn by elderly men, and rent (busulu), which is paid annually. Further, tenancy-at-will exchanges are usually between people who are well known to each other or subsequently become so, who therefore have developed social bonds that may be stronger than economic bonds.

Connections to land sellers through relatives and friends were the principal means by which house owners knew of the land on sale before purchasing it; 36.7% of the men and 50.0% of the women had purchased land through such connections. A few actually purchased land from their own friends and relatives. On the other hand, because they were born in the area, 10.2% of the men and 18.0% of the women were informed by the prospective land sellers. Contrary to popular beliefs, these findings prove that women too have social connections and contacts that are key in knowing which land is on sale. Land sold to low or middle-income groups is hardly advertised in the media unless it is to be auctioned as recourse to the owners' default on some previously undertaken financial transactions or obligations, e.g., bank loans. Land brokers were more relied on by male house owners, i.e., 10.2% compared to only 2.0% of the women. This may indicate the relatively higher economic power wielded by men for land brokers usually broker larger pieces of land whose prices are commensurately higher. Land brokers receive a commission once the transaction is complete. The commission is borne by both the seller and buyer, which further increases the overall cost of the land. This explains the very few women's and comparatively fewer men's recourse to brokers.

Payment in one cash instalment was the key mode of land exchange reported by 32.7% of the men and 50.0% of the women. Payment in several instalments was done by 28.6% of the men and 18.0% of the women. Payments in instalments were mostly between parties well known to each other, i.e., relatives and friends. Personal savings were used by 90.0% to purchase land; 5.0% obtained loans from formal financial institutions, 2.0% obtained loans from informal sources while 3.0% purchased the land from contributions and remittances from friends and relatives. There were no statistically significant differences between the men's and women's modes of payment for the land.

2.3 Problems Encountered in Acquisition of Land

Problems in raising funds for purchasing land were encountered by 38.4%. Savings were not easy to make given the numerous domestic obligations and responsibilities many had. Hence, they had to forego most family financial obligations to raise funds required to purchase land. Five per cent of the respondents reportedly sold their assets, e.g., television sets, some land and animals in their villages, etc., to raise funds for purchasing the land. However, it was noted that there has been a steep increase in the price of land in the last twenty-five years. One female respondent reported that she purchased 0.1 Ha in 1974 at 300/= which was equivalent to US $42. Three hundred shillings was half the salary of a primary school teacher then. A male respondent said he purchased the same size of land in the same neighbourhood in 1992 at 2,200,000/= which was equivalent to US $2100. In the same neighbourhood in 1994, for 0.15 Ha another male house owner paid 6,000,000/= equivalent to US $5,000. The steep rise in the price of land was attributed to land speculation, which in part was fuelled by increasing demand, driven by the high growth of urban housing development in the last decade.

Eleven per cent of the house owners encountered non-financial problems in the process of acquiring land. The problems arose from: the poor sub-division of plots under the mailo land system, which at times does not leave space for access roads and facilities, e.g., water pipes and electricity poles; unwillingness of some mailo landlords to surrender all their rights even after selling the land; and dishonesty committed by some landowners. With regard to poor sub-division of land plots, some house owners purchased plots that lacked access roads. Although a by-law compels landowners to leave a portion of their land extending three feet inwards from the plot boundaries as access road so that between two plots of land a six-foot access road is realized, the by-law is often ignored and rarely enforced, for mailo land is not under the jurisdiction of Jinja Municipality Council. Hence, some house owners had either to curve access roads wholly from within their newly acquired plots if the plot was near an already existing major road thereby reducing the plot size or had to purchase an extra piece of land as access road from neighbouring property owners often at exorbitant prices. The poor sub-divisions of plots also often resulted in quarrels over boundaries and at times made acquisition of a new land title from the parent title extremely difficult.

With respect to personal attachments to the land, some landowners went to bizarre extents of preventing new landowners from felling some trees and shrubs, yet they had already surrendered their rights to the land by virtue of selling it. As for dishonesty, some landowners sold the same piece of land to more than one person thereby generating conflicts over the same piece of land, which forestalls - sometimes permanently - the development of the land. Other landowners sold the land without the consent of all those with claim to the land (in the case of land bequeathed to several people) thus also generating conflicts between the new buyer and other claimants. In most cases, the new buyer either lost his/her money or paid the other claimants too, which was tantamount to double or triple payment for the same piece of land. In three cases of those who made purchase of land in instalments, the sudden death of the principal recipient instigated the family members of the deceased to repossess the land, resulting in ownership conflicts, which forestalled further developments on the land for a time. Seven women reported that they experienced opposition, which arose from their female gender social identity during the process of acquiring their land. Although only a fifth of those women who had purchased land, their cases serve to highlight the gender issue embedded in land acquisition. Five of the seven women reported that their husbands became violent when they realized that their wives were purchasing land. Three husbands were said to have thought that their wives had secret lovers who were financing their purchase of the land. Two of these women were subsequently divorced although they were employed (thereby earning) with their husbands' knowledge. The other woman reported that although they did not divorce immediately, their relations became strained because of the husband's suspicion of her sources of funds. Eventually, he lost interest in the home including the children. He took to heavy drinking and violence, which prompted the wife to move with the children to her semi-completed house. Two other women said that their husbands suspected that the women were "stealing" money from them (husbands). Their husbands thus forced them to register the land in their husbands' names, which the women readily did. Two other women said that they were strongly discouraged from buying land by their friends and relatives. They were instead advised to buy land in the villages. They however stood their grounds and bought the land, which led to some of their relatives and friends to refer to the women as "prostitutes who had got lost in the town" and who had broken off their rural roots. Thus, resistance to women's purchase of land did not arise only from the spouses but also from friends and relatives. It is because of this severe resistance to women's engagement in urban housing development that Ntege (1992) reported that for a woman to construct a house, she must believe that owning a house is normal: she must break away from the gender ideology which binds her to men's houses and other property. She must play deaf to those who wish to tarnish her brave image by stigmatising her as a prostitute. The urban multi-cultural setting may provide advantage for women to resist the gender ideology, which forbids them from owning land, houses and other property. However, not all women are psychologically strong enough to withstand societal pressure. Some circumvent the pressure by purchasing land in secrecy, and even engaging in the housing construction process secretly, without the knowledge of their spouses especially.

Interestingly, women's purchase of land did not draw anger from all men. One man revealed that he was challenged to purchase a plot of land because the wife was about to purchase one herself. The wife was working with a Co-operative Union that intended to sell its plots of land in the Municipality to its own employees at favourable terms, i.e., they would pay half in one instalment and the balance would be deducted from their salaries in six equal instalments. When she told the husband, the husband told her that he was already in the process of paying for a piece of land, so they should not buy two plots at once. Rather, he buys the land and they use the funds she would have used to purchase land to start building. Although the man admitted that he had not intended to buy an urban plot, leave alone have a house constructed on it, he withdrew all his savings and bought an urban plot within two weeks. The wife was thus discouraged from purchasing a plot from her employers. Another man admitted that the land was his wife's although the house was jointly constructed. The wife was working with Busoga Diocese, which had a lot of land within the town. The diocese decided to sell some of its land to its employees at very low prices. When the wife told the husband of her plan to purchase one, and the incredibly low prices, the husband encouraged her to buy the land. Jointly, husband and wife contributed funds for the construction process and now live in their own house, although residents of the area including the Local Council officials think the land was bought by the husband and do not refer to the wife as the owner of the house.

2.4 Legality of Land Ownership and House Construction

Only 34.7% of the men and 32.0% of the women had land titles testifying to the high prevalence of the tenancy at will system of land exchange and building on land that is inherited or bequeathed to several family members, which made individual acquisition of separate titles difficult. Besides, most plots of land were too small (below 0.1 Ha); yet, the smallest title size that can be processed by the Lands Office is 0.1 Ha. Interestingly, of those who had titles, 56.3% of the men had them registered in their own names compared to only 23.1% of the women. On the other hand, 46.2% of the women had titles registered in their spouses' names (p=.03064). Titles were also registered in children's names by 7.7% of the women and none of the men. Joint registration by the spouses in the titles was reported by 6.3% of the men and none of the women. Thirty one per cent of the men had titles registered in male relatives' names compared to 23.0% of the women whose titles were similarly registered in male relatives' names. Only 6.3% of the men and none of the women's registered titles in female relatives' names.

Asked why the titles were not registered in their names, 41.4% said that the parents/relatives from whom they had acquired the land were still alive, 20.7% said that the parent title could not be traced, while 34.4% (who were mostly women) said to avoid marital disharmony that would arise from having the land registered in their names. Only 33.3% of the male and 21.3% of the female house owners had built their houses with approved plans. Lack of land titles was a major reason for building without approved plans for plans approved by Jinja Municipal Council must be for houses to be built on land with a title. However, some house owners said they did not see the use of building a house on an approved plan. The tedious exercise of processing and acquiring an approved plan coupled with the expense (plans for residential houses range between 300,000/= and 900,000/=) deterred some house owners from acquiring the plans. However, the ability of house owners to bribe Jinja Municipality Council's building codes enforcement officials who insist on approved plans greatly assisted the house owners to build without plans. Besides, tenements may not require building plans because their low cost and their assumed temporary nature tend to be ignored by the Jinja Municipality Council enforcement officials.

2.5 Acquisition of Building Materials

Ninety eight per cent of the house owners acquired the building materials on cash basis. Only 8.1% reported receiving some building materials on credit while only 3.0% had some building materials donated to them. Some building materials (bricks) were made by 5.1% of the house owners themselves. The major sources of finances for the purchase of building materials were personal and family (spouses' joint) savings - reported by 94.0%. Loans from formal financial institutions were obtained by only 7.1% while 4.0% reported loans from informal sources were used to purchase building materials. Five per cent obtained cash contributions and remittances from grown-up children, parents, friends, siblings and employers. Although these were a few other sources of finances for the purchase of building materials (besides personal and spouses' joint savings), these sources merely augmented the personal savings. Next to personal savings, incomes from rentals were the most significant sources for acquisition of building materials especially for women and for owners of tenements. By having tenants pay 3-6 months' rent in advance, the house owners managed to acquire building materials to construct more houses on vacant portions of their land. In the housing development process by low-income groups, rental income was so important that it was believed a few tenements could generate several others in just a few years as long as one had land, which is the most expensive single component in urban housing development by the poor.

Loans from formal financial sources were obtained through contacts of friends and relatives by 4.0% of the house owners while employers provided short-term loans to another 3.0% of the house owners. These worked in Commercial Banks, which offer housing finance to their employees in lieu of housing allowances as a policy. All those who obtained loans for housing finance said that the terms of lending were fair and that all had repaid the loans.

Seventy seven per cent of the men and 67.3% of the women encountered problems in raising funds for the purchase of building materials. The major problem was the difficulty in saving sufficient funds. Family financial obligations often cut into building materials' budgets especially in families that had a big number of school going children. Price fluctuations in the prices of building materials especially for those who built in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s further made purchase of building materials more difficult. From the 1970s to early 1990s, building materials could not be imported in requisite quantities due to scarcity of foreign exchange. This led to shortages and subsequently higher costs. Some house owners resorted to locally available materials, for example, mixing cow dung instead of cement with sand to plaster their houses. Further, although cement, roofing, paint and PVC factories have been rehabilitated, they are not well developed compared to similar factories in Kenya and Tanzania. Their import content remains high thereby relegating them to mere processing, even packaging plants, which escalates prices.

Thus for women and for the poorer men, the initiation of successful housing development processes took long years of hard work and self-denial. Many resorted to the cheapest of foodstuffs, fewer meals, and denied themselves and those under their care the "luxury" of new clothes, etc. However, even extreme self-denial has a limit. Women and the poorer men resorted to completing their houses in phases. The first phase consisted of roofing and fitting the door(s) and window(s). Then the house would be cemented, and later the house would be plastered. If the house was for rental purposes, the rental charges also increased commensurate with the improvements on the house. Later, electricity may be connected and finally water. Implicitly, determination was a very important factor that enabled the poor especially women to engage in urban housing development.

Non-financial problems in the process of acquiring building materials were encountered by 32.7% of the male and 18.4% of the female house owners. Twelve per cent of the men and 6.0% of the women had some of their building materials stolen from the building sites and also reportedly received inferior quality and smaller quantities from their sources of the building materials. Because of these problems, most women built their houses at a very slow pace. Transport of the building materials especially of sand and bricks during the rainy seasons was reported a major problem by 18.4% of the men, and 14.0% of the women. During the rainy seasons, bricks especially the unburned ones become spoilt. Asked how they resolved these problems, 85.7% of the men and 92.0% of the women said they just had to use inferior quality materials. Only 18.4% of the men and 26.0% of the women rejected some of the inferior materials and purchased better quality ones, testifying to the financial constraints that faced the majority of urban housing developers thus forcing them to use inferior quality materials due to lack of means to acquire better alternatives. Ten per cent of the men and 6.0% of the women solved the transportation problem by relying on their and their family's labour especially their children's to ferry sand and bricks using bicycles and wheelbarrows. Certainly, the quantities that could be ferried by use of such means were much smaller and more time consuming than using a truck, which shows the extent of struggles poor developers undergo.

2.6 Acquisition of Construction Labour

Eighty nine per cent of the house developers hired labour on cash basis while 17.2% hired some of the labour on credit. Building labour was previously known to 91.7% of the male and 83.7% of the female developers. Of those to whom building labour was previously not known, connections through friends and relatives, and the labourers' own initiatives were the key methods by which they got in touch with the labourers. All the labour referred to comprised local informal sector of artisans known as abazimbi or builders. These consist of small scale or micro enterprises, which are unincorporated or unregistered. They are usually operated by individuals, family or groups of individuals with little or no hired labour (Rondinelli, 1990). They serve both the poor and the rich since engaging the services of established construction companies such as ROKO Construction, CONCORP, Dragados, etc., is out of the economic means of individual initiative housing developers. The local artisans usually have less than ten employees including family members and operate outside the scope of formal financial institutions and Building Societies. Because the house owners were interested in constructing houses for themselves and possibly a few other tenants, the sources of funds for construction labour came primarily from personal savings.

About one quarter of the male and one fifth of the female house developers encountered problems in the process of acquiring building labour. Unreliability of labourers (being slow and not reporting for work for days on end) was reported by 14.3% of the men and 12.0% of the women. Theft of building materials by labourers was reported by 6.1% of the men and 8.0% of the women. The expense of engaging labourers was extremely high for 10.2% of the men and 4.0% of the women. Methods used to overcome these problems included strict monitoring of the labour to avoid thefts and constantly supervising them to ensure that they report regularly to work.

2.7 Amenities Installed in the Houses

Electricity was installed by 63.3% of the men and 64.0% of the women. Tap water was present in 24.5% of the men's and 28.0% of the women's' houses. Internal plumbing was available in only 6.1% of the men's and 10.0% of the women's houses. Similarly, telephones were installed in only 6.1% of the men's and 10.0% of the women's houses. Asked why some amenities had not been installed, 75.0% said that the expense of installing them was high while only 10.0% said that the amenities were not necessary. Twelve per cent reported that the houses were not yet complete and that they were still making savings for the amenities.

2.8 Non-Ownership of Houses

In this section, we identify the nature and relative importance of the socio-cultural and political factors that impeded men's and women's engagement in urban housing development. Factors are traced via the non- owners' inability (real or anticipated) to assemble the inputs and components requisite for housing development. The initial assumption was that individuals' socio-economic and demographic backgrounds could facilitate or inhibit their ability to engage in urban housing development. Table 2 shows the men's and women's key socio-economic and demographic characteristics.

Table 2. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics of non-owners of houses, by gender

As shown in table 2, there were no significant differences in age, ethnicity, and number of years of residence in the Municipality and in the area between the male and female tenants (non-owners of houses). Three quarters of the tenants were aged 30 and below; half of the tenants belonged to the Soga ethnic group. The respondents were evenly spread along the number of years of stay in the Municipality although four-fifths of the men and two-thirds of the women had been resident in the area for 1-3 years.

Conversely, the men were more significantly unattached and had much fewer children compared to their female counterparts. The men too were significantly much more educated than the women and were about four more times represented in professional and informal sector occupations than the women. On the other hand, 37.3% of the women described themselves as full time homemakers while 25.5% were engaged in small-scale business or trading.

2.8.1 Access to Land

Since houses must be of necessity built on land, access to the latter is a prerequisite for engagement in urban housing development. Overall, fifty-four per cent of the male and 27.5% of the female non-owners of houses owned land (p=.00660). Of those who owned land, 88.9% of the men and 64.3% of the women owned land in the rural areas (p=.05942). Probably, some respondents owned land in both the urban and rural areas. The proportion of women who owned land in urban areas was more than three times that of the men partly because of the Soga and Ganda cultures that permit women to inherit land (Obbo 1976), for more women than men had inherited land in the urban areas. Moreover, 56.0% of those who had inherited land and 31.6% of those who purchased land belonged to the Soga ethnic group. Overall, 23.8% of the non-owners of houses had inherited land compared to only 14.9% who had purchased it.

Asked how the land was utilised, 70.8% of the men and 50.0% of the women said they were cultivating on it; 29.2% of the men and 28.6% of the women reared animals on it; while 21.4% of the men and none of the women reported that the land was lying unutilised. With the non-landowners, when asked why they did not own land, 63.9% of the men and 70.5% of the women said that they lacked money to purchase land, while 10.3% of the women reported that they expected their spouses to purchase land. Only 2.3% of the women and 3.0% of the men were of the view that they were still too young to own land.

With regard to where their first choice would be if they were to construct a house, only 36.4% of the men and 20.9% of the women said in urban areas, though with different reasoning. Sixty five per cent of the men and 18% of the women said that they either already had land in the rural areas and/or that it was cheaper to acquire land and build in rural areas compared to urban areas (p=.00008). Conversely, 32.8% of the women reported that the rural areas were their places of origin hence it was traditionally expected of them to first construct houses there. Women's higher recourse to traditional expectations as influencing their choice of where to construct a house may be attributed to their lesser stake in urban areas considering that 37.3% of them had earlier on described themselves as house makers. Besides, full time house makers are likely to have a more traditional outlook towards life than women employed outside the home for the latter tend to meet more people of diverse cultures hence their conservatism tends to decline.

On the other hand, 16.4% of the women's and 6.3% of the men preferred owning a house in urban areas because of commercial renting possibilities, which would generate income. Another twenty per cent of the women and 14.6% of the men preferred urban areas because of the better physical infrastructures and social services therein. The high preference for house ownership in rural areas is supported by Peil (1976) and O'Connor (1983) who argue that most African urban dwellers prefer owning homes in their villages to ownership in towns and cities, as most do not consider themselves permanent urban dwellers. Further, urban areas were more preferred by the more educated while rural areas were more preferred by the less educated.

As can be seen in table 3, the more educated who most likely were professionals or anticipated professional occupations and growth were more attached to urban areas for it is in urban areas that their aspirations could be more easily realised. The less educated most of whom were informal sector operators and licensed traders/business people had probably less attachment to urban areas besides their work interests, which may be short-term, aimed at securing sufficient income to go back and settle in the villages. Although not statistically significant, table 4 shows the professionals' urban first choice being higher than the traders' and informal sector operators' choice.

Table 3. First choice of location for building, by level

of education

Educational level	Choice
	Urban (%)	Rural (%)
Primary	16.3	54.9
S1 - S4	30.2	13.7
S5 - S6	9.3	9.8
Tertiary	44.2	21.6
Total %	100.0	100.0
Total (n)	48	51

Note: p=.00109.

Table 4. First choice of location for building, by

occupation

Occupation	Choice
	Urban (%)	Rural (%)
Trader/business	20.8	22.6
Professional	31.3	22.6
Clerical worker	8.3	3.8
Informal sector worker	16.7	24.5
Labourer	6.3	5.7
Homemaker	16.7	20.8
Total %	100	100
Total (n)	48	53

Note: p = .76063.

Nonetheless, it was the more educated men who significantly preferred building in urban areas. This is illustrated in table 5.

Table 5. First choice of location for building, by level of

education and gender

With respect to the influence of occupation on men and women, non- owners' first choice of where to build a house, table 6 shows that there were no significant variations.

Table 6. First choice of location for building, by occupation and gender

Occupation	Gender
	Male		Female
	Urban (%)	Rural (%)	Urban (%)	Rural (%)
Trader/business	19.2	16.7	22.7	27.6
Professional	46.2	37.5	13.6	10.3
Clerical worker	7.7	-	9.1	6.9
Informal sector worker	23.1	45.8	9.1	6.9
Labourer	3.8	-	9.1	10.3
Homemaker	-	-	36.4	37.9
Total %	100	100	100	100
Total (n)	26	24	22	29
	p=.29370		p=.99426

Asked whether they knew of any plots for sale in Jinja Municipality, 36.0% of the men and 15.7% women answered in affirmative (p=.01957). The majority of those who knew of plots for sale in the Municipality wished to acquire them although they simultaneously expressed financial constraints as preventing them from doing so. Interestingly, respondents with marital and reproductive obligations were more knowledgeable of sources where they could obtain funds to purchase urban plots than those who did not have such obligations as shown in table 7.

Table 7. Knowledge of sources of funds to purchase an urban plot, by marital status and reproductive status

The reported sources included personal savings, selling assets owned in the rural areas (e.g., cows and land), farming and loans from informal sources. That it was respondents with marital and reproductive obligations who more significantly knew of sources where they could obtain funds for purchasing an urban plot implies that it was more of determination and less of absence of competing financial obligations and responsibilities that was the important factor in enabling non-owners to purchase land. Age and length of urban residence were not significantly correlated with knowledge of sources where funds could be obtained to purchase an urban plot. This is shown in table 8.

Table 8. Knowledge of sources of funds to purchase an urban plot, by age and length of urban residence

Age and duration	Knowledge
	Yes (%)	No (%)
Age
18 - 30	78.7	72.2
31 - 40	19.1	22.2
41+	2.1	5.6 p =.60627
Length of urban residence
1 - 5 yrs	23.4	42.6
6 - 10 yrs.	42.6	29.6
11+	34.0	27.8 p =.11960
Total %	100	100
Total (n)	47	54

Interestingly, the influence of marital status on men's knowledge of sources where funds could be obtained to purchase an urban plot was not significant though the influence on women was. Conversely, the influence of reproductive status on men's knowledge of sources where to obtain funds for purchase of an urban plot was statistically significant though insignificant on women. These findings are shown in table 9.

Table 9. Knowledge of sources of funds to purchase an urban plot, by marital status, reproductive status and gender

The influence of age and length of urban residence on men and women's knowledge of sources where funds could be obtained to purchase an urban plot was equally insignificant as illustrated in table 10.

Table 10. Knowledge of sources of funds to purchase an urban plot, by age, length of urban residence and gender

Age and residence duration	Gender
	Male		Female
	Yes (%)	No (%)	Yes (%)	No (%)
Age
18 - 30	84.6	66.7	71.4	76.7
31 - 40	11.5	29.2	28.6	16.7
41+	3.8	4.2	-	6.7
	p =.29064		p =.32349
Length of urban residence
1 - 5 yrs	23.1	41.7	23.8		43.3
6 - 10 yrs	38.5	41.7	47.6		20.0
11+ yrs	38.5	16.7	28.6		36.7
Total %	100	100	100		100
Total (n)	26	24	21		30
	p =.17403		p =.10124

However, 32.0% of the men and 17.6% women anticipated some non-financial problems in the process of acquiring an urban plot. The problems included the time consuming bureaucracy involved in the process of acquiring a land title, unscrupulous land dealers who sell the same piece of land to more than one person thereby leading one party to lose money, purchasing a plot in inaccessible locations that may lack services such as water and electricity, and political instability which makes investments risky. Interestingly, the more educated and those in occupations associated with having attained higher educational levels most anticipated meeting problems in the process of acquiring an urban plot as illustrated in table 11.

Table 11. Envisaging non-financial problems in the process of acquiring an

urban plot, by educational level and occupation

Table 12. Envisaging non-financial problems in the process of acquiring an urban plot, by educational level, occupation and gender

2.8.2 The Housing Development Process

Seventy four per cent of the men and only 35.3% of the women knew where to obtain architectural plans for building in the Municipality (p=.00009). This is indicative of the men's higher knowledge of housing development related institutions than the women's, at least prior to both genders' engagement in the development. Twenty eight percent of the men and 78.0% of the women hoped to obtain building materials from their neighbourhoods (p=.00813). The materials which non-owners hoped to obtain from within their neighbourhoods included bricks, which some said would be made out of the soil from the land on which they would build, sand from the neighbouring swamps and building poles for roofing. The anticipated higher reliance by the women on building materials from the neighbourhood could be a reflection of the women's lesser access to economic resources compared to the men's, for building materials obtained from the neighbourhood are cheaper but of inferior quality. For instance, bricks from red soils in the neighbourhood cost only 20/= each, but are not fired hence are softer and weaker compared to clay and fired bricks from brick making locations in the outskirts of Jinja town, which are harder, long lasting but also more expensive, i.e., 60% increase. The respondents also reported that they would obtain some building materials from hardware shops in town and in the neighbouring suburbs of Nalufenya and Bugembe. However, about three-quarters of both the male and female non-owners anticipated problems in raising funds for the purchase of building materials due to lack of good sources of income, inability to make sufficient savings and numerous domestic obligations. Eighty-eight per cent of the respondents said that personal savings would be the major source of funds they would use for acquiring building materials. Loans from formal financial institutions such as banks and Building Societies were suggested by only 5.0% while 18.8% said that they would acquire loans from informal sources. Interestingly, of those who expected to obtain loans from informal sources, the less literate predominated: 60% of those who had attained primary education compared to 16.0% of those who had attained post-primary education (p=.01284). This could imply that the less educated may be relying more on funds from friends and kin in the form of grants or interest free loans even in their daily living compared to the more educated who may be relying more on personal funds and savings.

Loans from financial sources were least cited because of several reasons. First, most of those with land had no land titles, which is the standard collateral for obtaining a loan from formal financial institutions. Secondly, most non-owners hoped to build low- to medium-income houses on cheaper land obtained as tenants at will. They therefore envisaged not obtaining the requisite land titles that would serve as collateral for obtaining loans from formal financial institutions. Thirdly, there was worry of failure to obtain a loan from the formal financial sources even if one had the land title. Finally, lack of connections and the long and tedious application processes involved in securing a loan from formal financial institutions were cited as key obstacles. However, as Macaloo (1994) points out, due to their low and uncertain incomes, the small amount of loans that plot owners in low- and middle-income brackets may require could prove too expensive for the financial institutions to administer. The institutions could therefore tend to discourage small borrowers. Fear of failure to pay back the principal and accruing interest was another impediment to obtaining building finance from formal financial institutions. Macaloo (1990) similarly notes that families with uncertain incomes are usually reluctant to gamble with their only asset - land, in quest of bank loans since the penalties for defaulters include loss of their assets. In Uganda, it is not only families with uncertain incomes who face loss of property but also wealthy individuals, families and companies belonging to people of high socio-economic standing, who are daily having their property advertised in the media and auctioned off due to failure to pay back their loans and interests. A Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART) has been set up to recover over US $60 million that is owed to Ugandan Commercial Bank alone. Several other banks and the Housing Finance Company of Uganda are also auctioning off several urban residential and commercial properties and rural farmlands whose owners have failed to pay back the borrowed money. This scenario has subsequently made borrowing from formal financial institutions most abhorred by Ugandans. Besides, the 18%-24% interest rates charged on loans from formal financial institutions are rather high to be serviced and paid back if one used the funds to engage in urban housing development. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that non-owners who envisaged having problems in raising funds for the purchase of building materials were mostly those who had stayed in Jinja town for fewer years, as shown in table 13.

Table 13. Envisaging problems in raising funds to purchase building

materials, by length of stay in Jinja town

It may appear that the longer one stayed in a town, the more one acquired the necessary socio-economic connections and channels for getting income especially from informal sources since formal sector incomes are much too low to enable one to engage in urban housing development. Nonetheless, the heavy reliance on informal sources of capital may not augur well for the majority of the poor non-owners who may want to own houses (Macaloo 1994). The cost of living and low incomes make it virtually impossible for poor people to accumulate savings for residential development. Sources from friends and kin who are better off may also dwindle as costs of living and the financial squeeze affect them too. Mainly those able to save and later combine savings and probably rent proceeds would be able to own urban houses (Macaloo 1994). It is worth noting nevertheless that there were no statistically significant variations between men and women with respect to how length of urban residence influenced their respective envisaging of problems in raising funds to purchase building materials. This is illustrated in table 14.

Table 14. Envisaging problems in raising funds to purchase building

materials, by length of urban residence and gender

Only 22.4% of the men and 13.7% of the women expected non-financial problems in the process of acquiring building materials. Scarcity of building materials, the wet seasons that not only made roads from sand and aggregate quarries impassable but also tended to spoil bricks, fear of materials getting stolen from building sites and receiving poor quality building materials from unscrupulous traders were the major problems cited. However, it was non-owners with fewer years' residence in their present location who mostly anticipated these problems: 25.8% had stayed in the area for 1-3 years compared to only 4.3% who had stayed in their respective areas for 4 years and above (p=.02772). Since most of the respondents had earlier reported that they would be obtaining their building materials from their neighbourhoods, it is possible that those who had been residents of their areas for longer periods had already gathered sufficient knowledge of the processes of acquiring building materials. Further, since the study areas have witnessed high housing development growth rates in the last decade, the residents who had stayed for longer years could have been following housing developments with interest thereby could be getting information from those engaged in u