{"id":1957,"date":"2022-02-04T14:16:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T14:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=1957"},"modified":"2022-02-08T12:03:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T12:03:53","slug":"land-authority-issues-deeds-from-tribal-certificates-without-regulations-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/02\/04\/land-authority-issues-deeds-from-tribal-certificates-without-regulations-report-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Authority Issuing Community Deeds Without Regulations, Report Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: A community in the Yarmein Clan in Nimba County the Land Authority has issued a deed, according to a new report. The DayLight\/William Harmon  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By James Harding Giahyue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MONROVIA \u2013 Before the Land Rights Act of 2018, chiefs and elders across Liberia issued thousands of tribal certificates to individuals as a kind of title to lands in towns and villages. But in many cases, the chiefs did not consult other members of the communities, among other things, making tribal certificates arguably the most troublesome subject in Liberia\u2019s land reform process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this problem, the law requires tribal certificates to be legally processed into deeds with the involvement of full membership of communities\u2014men, women and the youth\u2014that own the lands for which the documents were issued. The Liberia Land Authority (LLA) is yet to formulate regulations for the implementation of the law, including the vetting of all tribal certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the LLA has issued tribal 11 deeds to individuals and a community in Bomi and Nimba from tribal certificates in the absence of regulations, a new report by a conglomerate of civil society organizations has found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their report late last month, the Civil Society Land Reform Working Group (CSO-LRWG) revealed that the Land Authority has issued 10 deeds to people in the Yarmein Clan of Nimba from tribal certificates and one each to Lowah Town in the Klay District of Bomi County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several provisions of the law call for the Land Authority to formulate regulations for the \u201ceffective implementation of the act.\u201d The law reads in its 12th<\/sup> article, \u201cThe right to the ownership and use of Land is not absolute but is subject to reasonable regulations.\u201d  The LLA said last year it had begun the formulation of the regulations but has not completed<\/a> it, more than three years after the passage of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Land Authority is violating the very law it was created solely to implement,\u201d said Daniel Krakue of Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SESDev), one of the organizations that published that report.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report urged the LLA to nullify all deeds it has issued from tribal certificates,  halt the processing of the documents until it completes the regulations, and restitute fees communities and individuals have paid. It called for an inquest into fees being charged for customary-land surveys as well as the prosecution of culprits.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report comes at a time when 170 communities are awaiting the LLA to conduct its confirmatory survey to get their ancestral land deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LLA  said it would respond to the report at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its investigation, CSO-LRWG said it interviewed townspeople of the two communities in the counties, held workshops for 47 people in two weeks in December last year. Other than the relevant tribal certificates, it said it reviewed several documents related to the communities, such as deeds, receipts and letters.  Rights and Resources Initiative<\/a> (RRI), an international nongovernmental organization that focuses on land tenure and forestry, funded the report.  CSO-LRWG comprises 33 local groups, which campaigned for the passage of the historic law, hailed across the world for its recognition of ancestral land rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tribal Certificate Amid Moratorium<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having processed without any existent regulations, the tribal certificate from which Lowah\u2019s deed was granted was issued to the community in 2019 amid a moratorium on the sales of all public lands across the country, the report said. The deed, seen by The DayLight, was signed in October last year by Atty. Adams Manobah, chairman of the Land Authority, covering 1,777.1 acres of land in the Mannah Clan.  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued the moratorium<\/a> in 2013 as land crises spiraled out of control, and the ban has not been lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Varney Jallah, land administrator of Bomi County signed a tribal certificate issued to Lowah Town in 2019 amid a moratorium on the sale of public land. Photo credit: CSO Land Reform Working Group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u201cThe validity of tribal certificates shall be determined by a rigid validation process involving the community conducted by the Liberia Land Authority,\u201d\u2019 the report said, quoting a provision of the Land Rights Act. \u201cIt reminds unclear on what condition the Liberia Land Authority issued a customary statutory deed to Lowah Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varney Jallah, the land administrator of Bomi County, who signed Lowah\u2019s controversial tribal certificate, admitted to that but said it was not official, and that he had signed the document under pressure from the townspeople.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur people get problem. When they came for the tribal certificate, we told them that \u2018Even if you have a tribal certificate, it will just be for formality,\u201d Jallah told The DayLight in a mobile phone interview on Thursday. \u201cEven if we give you this, it is not by law. I was clear with them but they said no.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you are working in a community, especially traditional communities, you will explain some things, you will go up and come down, they will say X, Y, Z,\u201d Jallah said, adding that the Lowah\u2019s tribal certificate was nullified and still made to go through the legal steps provided in the law before obtaining its deed. Communities first identify themselves as landowners and organize and create bylaws, demarcate their boundaries with neighboring communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also criticized the Land Authority over its \u201castronomical\u201d fees for the survey. Lowah paid L$132,900 (approximately US$700 in 2019) for its survey, captured on the community\u2019s deed.  Lavekai, another town in the same district, paid US$2,000 in September for the same purpose, according to the receipt of that payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSO-LRWG had in June last year disapproved the Land Authority\u2019s proposal to charge communities an \u201cappropriate, reasonable facilitation\u201d instead of a fixed affordable charge to avoid corruption. The report said the Land Authority was yet to get feedback on their recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCustomary communities are paying huge prices just to secure full ownership rights to their customary land, support their livelihood and sustain their cultural heritage,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report said the 10 people in Nimba County who received deeds already had a lease agreement with ArcelorMittal, based on their tribal certificates, some of which The DayLight has seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddie Beanjar, Sr., the land administrator of Nimba County, denied that the deeds had been issued, clarifying that the individuals were at the verge of getting legal claims to their respective plots of land.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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