By Crispina Cummings
House Majority Leader says bad management of land could be a recipe for war in any country.
Ibrahim Bundu, MP, made this statement on Wednesday in parliament while admonishing his colleague parliamentarians to take the presentation of the final draft of the new land policy project seriously. He said they had all seen the "menace" of the bad management of land issues through previous governments, which he said had led to serious violence and even deaths.
Bundu said land issues bordered on the country’s economic growth and security, adding that no one could take somebody else’s land without providing compensation. He noted that even if it was a government policy to take away the land, it had to be explained to the person to understand it properly.
Director of lands, Dr William Farma said the new land policy would not introduce a single system, noting that the dual system would continue in the Western Area and in the provinces. He said they wanted to make sure every plot of land in the country was surveyed and documented so that owners would be able to use it as collateral to obtain bank loans.
The project technician, Mohamed Turay who also lectures at FBC said the draft policy had been developed and gone through the test to meet international standards and best practices. He said that if there was no policy on the land issue, it would be chaotic and difficult to handle, adding that the scope of the policy was geared towards a clear and more efficient land tenure system.
Turay said several issues were taken into consideration including the "inevitable" access to land, shortage or access to land in the Western Area, squatting on state land, preventing land grabbing and international land dispute like that in Yenga.
He said these were some of the issues that informed the policy, adding that with the support of UNDP, the draft policy would be made available to all stakeholders.
(C) Politico 22/05/14
