Unbalanced allocation of land caused land injustices: Report

Inequitable allocation of land as a result of political economy and governance issues has been attributed for the sorry state of the land sector in the country.
According to a research conducted by the Society for International Development (SID) dubbed “Public land, historical land injustices and the new constitution”, post independence governments facilitated land grabbing by a few political and economic elite at the expense of the
non-elites who are the significant majority.

The study argues that often the executive institutions disregarded the law and allocated land irregularly and illegally, leading to unfair public land allocation and landlessness.

“This has led to the infringement of peoples’ entitlements to land access and ownership, which to date remains largely unresolved,” the report explains.

Furthermore the report says that distortion in competitive politics, the indiscipline of political parties and weak oversight mechanisms for land transactions have contributed to the infringement of peoples’ entitlement to land access and ownership.

“Problems are exacerbated by a rogue, corrupt and incompetent bureaucracy along with ethno-regional collective action that fuels land conflicts and therefore land dispossessions,” adds the report.

Consequently, the report says that political and economic elites have taken advantage of their position to allocate themselves and their cronies land classified as public land, thus denying the non-elites equal opportunities in land acquisition.

“Most of these injustices have not been resolved to date and continue to generate ethnic and regional tensions,” the study says.

On this note, the study recommends that land reforms must have as the primary objective the restoration of peoples’ entitlement to land as well as the delivery of efficient outcomes in the ownership and use of land.

“The restoration refers to both public land that was irregularly or illegally acquired and historical injustices meted out to communities and individuals,” elaborates the report.

Additionally it recommends that given the vested interests of the political and economic elites and the possible resistance to reforms from bureaucrats, the pressure from the reformers drawn from non-state actors’ fraternity must be sustained to see land restitution to its conclusion.

“That mechanisms be put in place for monitoring the activities of professionals, ensuring that errant professionals are penalized, and providing opportunities for the public to report any errant professionals,” concludes the report.