In his sixth annual message to the legislature on January 30, President George Weah stated that the Liberia Land Rights Act is widely regarded as the most progressive pro-community land reform law on the African continent.
Because it recognizes and protects customary land tenure and women’s land rights.
” I applaud you for passage of the Land Rights Act and the Local Government Act in your first session in 2018. The Land Rights Act has been considered by many as the most progressive pro-community land reform law on the African continent, as it recognizes and protects customary land tenure, as well as women’s rights to land.”
President George Weah signed the Land Rights Act into law in September 2018, heralding it as a “landmark victory” by activists.
In January 2018, Weah’s inauguration speech promised “clarity on fundamental matters such as the ground beneath their feet,” and many citizens felt a lengthy fight was coming to an end.
The law applies to all land in Liberia, including private, public, government, and customary land.
The Liberia Land Authority can enact the rules required to carry out this law.
In Rwanda, the government passed a law in 1999 granting women equal inheritance rights to men, overturning previous beliefs that only male children may inherit.
This has made it possible for widows and female orphans of the 1994 massacre to own land.
According to the Kenyan Constitution (Republic of Kenya, 2010, article 61), the land is categorized into three categories. The Community Land Act 2016 (Republic of Kenya, 2016) establishes a new framework for identifying and registering customary holdings.
The act states that any community may get a single collective title to its lands and control this property by established gender equity criteria.
While Malawi has been engaging in a lengthy process of establishing new institutional frameworks for customary land administration.
The Malawi National Land Policy (Government of the Republic of Malawi, 2002) sought to ensure that all Malawians had equal access to land.
In 2016, this concept was formalized in ten law bills, including the Customary Land Act.
This statute recognizes and allows for the registration of customary land in matrilineal or patrilineal societies.
Because community-owned customary land can be titled and registered, it should protect against land grabs by local elites and foreigners.
The tenure system for Senegalese land includes three overlapping legal systems: a customary system (derived from old customs), the registration system, and the French civil code system (as introduced by the colonial government).
With Law 64-46, known as the national domain law, the Senegalese government attempted to integrate the three systems in 1964.
Land was separated into three types under this land reform: state land, private land, and national land.
State land (which comprised only 3% of Senegal’s land in 1964) is owned by the state and is divided into public and private land (the state can sell these private lands).
Individuals with a land title own private land (which made up only 2% of Senegal’s land in 1964).
Unlike land in the national domain, this land can be the subject of land transactions (sale, leasing, pledge, etc.).
In nations with highly developed land markets, land ownership often indicates “full ownership,” which includes the whole set of rights owned by the landowner, including the right to transfer or dispose of (as in freehold) (e.g., Kenya and Malawi, with restrictions).
Those that recognize several types of tenure, such as individual property rights, customary tenure, and public lands (e.g., Uganda and Sierra Leone); and countries that vest land ownership in the state and grant individuals only usage rights (e.g., Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania).
Given these changes, the data indicate significantly different rights in different nations, depending on the prevailing customary and statutory legal frameworks.
According to another report, more than 90 percent of Africa’s rural land is undocumented, making it especially vulnerable to land grabbing and expropriation with little compensation.
Several land reforms have been initiated in Ghana by successive administrations to make the industry more effective through land tenure security and more significant agricultural investment.
As a result, since 2003, land reforms in Ghana have mainly concentrated on reforming the land administration apparatus.
The Land Administration Program (LAP), Ghana’s most recent land reform program, seeks to streamline customary land administration systems to improve land tenure security and revenue mobilization from traditional land.
As a result, since 2003, land reforms in Ghana have mainly concentrated on reforming the land administration apparatus.
The Land Administration Program (LAP), Ghana’s most recent land reform program, seeks to streamline customary land administration systems to improve land tenure security and revenue mobilization from traditional land.
The Global Land Governance Index (LANDex) assesses land governance on three levels(i)the legal and institutional framework surrounding a land issue; ii) the extent to which policies or programs established in such frameworks have been implemented; and iii) the diverse outcomes, impact, or perceptions of implemented projects or policies.
The commitment on locally managed ecosystems has a score of 82.9 in Liberia, whereas good small-scale farming gets a score of 34.8.
On the other hand, the head of the government agency in charge of the land policy stated that implementation is challenging.
Despite Liberia, the land rights Law authority says implementing the law remains a nightmare.
Under the law, the government said communities could claim ownership of customary land by presenting evidence such as oral testimonies, maps, and signed agreements with neighbors.
A maximum of ten percent of the customary land in each community will be set aside as public land, and a nationwide survey will be conducted within two years.
Gerald D. Yeakula, researcher and lawyer, said the Land Rights Act is progressive on paper, contrary to the President’s claim.
“However, I cannot say for certain that it is the most progressive on the continent. Besides, what is important is the impact of the law.”
“Nearly 5 years after the passage of the LRA, processes involving tribal certificates and giving title deeds to community are yet to substantially progress. Community land management structures to manage land are yet to be operational in most communities.”
However, based on information from Ghana, Malawi, and Kenya, it is safe to declare that the Liberia Land Law Right Act is not the most progressive in Africa; even though land portal reported this, a disclaimer is provided.
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