Monrovia – The Liberian Senate unanimously voted on Tuesday, April 12, 2026 to approve, with significant modification, the controversial proposed Liberia Land Authority Act (LLAA). It has been sent to the lower house for concurrence.
Controversy grew over the Land Authority Act when then Minister of Internal Affairs, Morris Dukuly, told a Senate committee hearing that the act is seriously flawed and should be sent back to the Executive. His statement led to his booting from the cabinet by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The Act was submitted by President Sirleaf to the Legislature in September 2014. The passage of the act will give birth to a new autonomous agency of the Government to be called the Liberia Land Authority (LLA). It shall be devoted solely to land matters.
The act passed by The Senate comes in the wake of mounting calls from stakeholders, including civil society groups who have warned that delay in the passage would cause more harm.
Last year, international land rights groupings said Liberia risks a resurgence of social conflict if the Legislature doesn’t swiftly approve the Land Authority Act which is currently before lawmakers.
The passage of the act by The Senate allows steps toward the creation of the agency to begin and to reassure donors of the Government’s continued commitment to reforms in the land sector, as well as to allow the Government provide a budget for the new Agency, which will reassure donors and increase prospects of securing multi-year donor funding for the new agency.
The new agency, when given birth, will oversee the implementation of existing land legislation such as the act against the criminal conveyance of land.
The agency will take over the land function which is being carried out by the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, altering its name to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The Land Authority Act, if passed by the House of Representatives, will see certain functions of the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Public Works, Center for National Documents and Records Agency, be turned over to the proposed agency.
Many, especially civil society groupings and supporters of the act, are of the belief that the proposed establishment of the Land Authority marks a fundamental step towards preparation for the sustainable management of all lands in Liberia, including the resolution of perennial problems of land disputes.
Senator Albert Chie, Chairman on the Senate Committee on Lands, Mines and Natural Resources, told reporters that the one stop agency for all Land matters will oversee programs in land governance, including, inter alia, land administration, land use and management and land policy review and planning.
“The activities of the Authority will be decentralized to ensure efficient and well-coordinated land governance,” he says. “There will be located in each county, land boards and offices.
“Each land owning community will establish a community land management and development association to govern and manage the land of communities in accordance with the proposed Land Rights Act of Liberia,” the senator said.
He said establishing the agency does not pose extra financial cost to the government. According to him, fiscal analysis for the establishment of this new agency has determined that already there exists starting resources for manpower development and operations.
“All employees of division of agencies whose land functions are being overtaken by the LLA will be automatically transferred with their current salaries.”
Furthermore, he stated, there is a committed funding from the Government of the United States, the EU, the Swedish Government, the United Nations Peace Building Fund, the World Bank and other bilateral and Multilateral sources.
In her 2012 Annual Message delivered in January 2013, the President informed the National Legislature that she would submit a “Bill to separate the lands function from the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy to establish an agency with a focus on land matters”.
Consequently, The Land Commission was instructed by the President to draft the establishment Act for such an agency in consultation with relevant agencies of Government, including the Governance and Law Reform Commissions.
After several consultations covering a period of more than two years, an Act was drafted and reviewed at a stakeholder’s meeting on December 17, 2014.
