Willie N. Tokpah/0777039231/0888140438([email protected])
Monrovia-Civil Society Organization Working Group in Liberia (CSO) has suggested the need for improvement of the draft Land Authority Act recently passed by the Liberian Senate. The Land Authority Act, LAA was passed by the Liberian Senate on April 12, 2016, after a unanimous vote institutionalizing the much needed land reform process in Liberia.
According to the CSO, despite the passage of the draft Land Authority Act, which has been engrossed, the document still has challenges which must be looked at before final passage into law by the National Legislature.
Frances R. Digh-Greaves, National Chairperson of the National Civil Society groups said Liberian communities are still questioning key thematic areas contained in the Land Rights Act.
Speaking at a news conference in Sinkor Tuesday, Greaves asked national leaders to look into issues that seem critical to people whom CSO have been working with in an effort to address land issues and see reason to pass the Land Rights Act that is still languishing at the Legislature.
“We are all aware that since the end of the civil war in 2003, a lot of land issues have been raised, that have caused violence and other forms of confrontation in various communities, so people in these communities are concerned”, Madam Greaves asserted.
She pointed out that a segment in the Land Rights Act clearly gives freedom to citizens to utilize their lands at the same time to those who are farming on their lands without been removed.
Giving the CSO Working Group position on the draft Land Authority Act, a Student Leader of the group, Forstina P. Gongbah noted that any failure on the part of legislature to address the challenges within the act will roll back gains that have been made.
Gongbah called for the definition and differentiation of lands that are referred to as government owned and those considered government protected areas among others.
He said paying heed to the calls will create rooms for the preservation areas that fall within customary land will be taken from communities and given to the state.
“This is worryingly broad”; he said.
Furthermore, the CSO Student Leader expressed fear that customary land designated by future governments as protected areas could eventually be taken from communities by the government.
Gongbah lamented, “This is a great concern because there are no regulations on how much land will be designated as protected areas and whether communities will have a say in designating land as protected area.”
The CSO Working Group through its student leader has at the same time termed as a ‘real risk’ if private and customary land are designated as protected areas at the same time government land.
He emphasized the need for legality to be considered in ensuring that land being designated as government property be thoroughly investigated through a process that includes public announcement, community meetings and consultations as well as legal overview rather than declaring land public property automatically.
Moreover, the CSO noted that more improvement is needed in the process leading to the selection of Board of Land Commissioners.
The Act passed by the Liberian Senate states that “the Board of Land Commissioners shall be comprised of five commissioners, including a chairperson and vice-chairperson to be appointed by the President of Liberia with the consent of the Senate as provided by law”.
But the group believes that any other appointment that will not be based on merit will not be in line with best practices, calling for the setting up of an independent vetting body including members of CSOs, Law Reform Commission, Land and Constitutional Legal expert among others.
Gongbah meanwhile said, the structure and proposed staffing of the governing body for the proposed Land Authority is heavy and bureaucratic with too many layers of authority with duplicating functions.
He used the medium on behalf of the CSO Working Group to call for a forum with the House Committee responsible, aimed at further discussing concerns highlighted thereof.
On the other hand, the CSO Working Group has registered its concern over the prolonged delay in the passage of the Land Right Act which has left communities vulnerable to land tenure insecurity, calling on the Liberian Legislature to act on the act immediately.