By Amin Kef Sesay
Can you send a thief to catch a thief? The reason why since the 1970s land administration in the Western Area in particular has been very problematic is because very senior Ministry of Lands officials who know where all public lands lie work actively with land grabbers and surveyors to identify, expropriate and sell those lands to the highest bidder; in some instances to several buyers causing confusion, fights and lengthy expensive litigation in courts.
Knowing that given how deeply corrupt the Ministry of Lands is, Dr Turad Senessie in going forward has to tread carefully, because those he would depend on to reform the Lands Ministry which Dr Sandy unsuccessfully tried to do are the real enemies of reform and progress in that Ministry.
As such, developing an effective land administration system in both the western area and the provinces is very challenging. However, given how important land is for various human reasons, placing land rights at the heart of development makes economic sense.
For this to be done transparently, accountably and effectively requires financial resources and trained personnel – both of which are in short supply in the Ministry of Lands.
The biggest problem with effective land administration since time immemorial has been that customary land administration arrangements and statutory systems are disconnected and reconciling the two in a manner that serves the rural poor and land users generally is very difficult as Dr Sandy very well knows.
Certainly, since the 1970s, weak land administration contributes to use of land for patronage purposes.
The reason why an effective Land Administration System is crucially important for Sierra Leone is that if the necessary actions are not taken now future generations would have none left to call their own as currently there is a frenzy to own and sell land by all kinds of speculators and unscrupulous persons like the so-called Chief Kolenten at New Camp, Grafton.
Land administration is a general term for the processes of land rights’ recognition, land use planning, land taxation and developing accurate land information. It is central to the effective management of land and therefore critical to development.
Land administration includes: the allocation of rights to land; the setting of land boundaries; the transfer of land rights through sale, lease, loan, gift or inheritance; and the adjudication of land disputes.
It includes enforcement of land-use regulations and land valuation. Land administration can be applied through formal (statutory) or informal (customary) land tenure rules.
Inadequate land administration can lead to many problems. Without effective land registries—which provide a record of deeds or title documents—land parcels can be allocated to multiple people, resulting in conflict and insecure tenure.
Without effective conflict resolution mechanisms, disputes can escalate into civil unrest and can turn violent. And without effective land-use planning, land will not be put to its most efficient uses.
As such, currently the country’s Land Administration system does not allow for effective and successful problem resolution as the National Land Policy has not been implemented.
Many existing land laws and regulations are outdated and do not meet modern requirements. Property unit formation and survey system is manual, land survey technologies are outdated and inaccurate, number of specialists is insufficient and the existing specialists do not meet the required qualifications.
Currently, only a tiny percentage of all kind of lands in the rural and urban areas are mapped and recorded.
There is no unified and reliable system for Land data registration and storage. Property management procedures are long, unreliable (many decisions are verbal), expensive and do not guarantee the protection of the rights of the property user and/or owner.
The new National Lands Policy of Sierra Leone which needs urgent activation aspires to gradually formalize land transactions while respecting the customary systems. But for now, mandatory land transaction recording and registration could be an effective step towards the implementation of land related policy.
Alongside this, communication and sensitization campaigns should be carried out to avoid situations where ignorance of the requirement to register land on a first served basis may violate the rights of genuine land owners because their land could be registered to somebody more familiar with the system.
The constitutional provisions in Sierra Leone stipulate that the rights holders are guaranteed a right to access the justice system to remedy a breach, however the judicial system is not reliable, and may not be accessible or may not necessarily result in timely and just decisions.
