Republic of Liberia REPORT 2010 Land Commission Consultations Land Commission Consultations 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was compiled and written by the Program Staff of the Technical Secretariat of the Land Commission (LC) under the guidance and supervision of Mr. Stanley N. Toe, Land Policy and Program Development Officer. The Technical Secretariat extends its profound appreciation and gratitude to Chairman Brandy and other Commissioners of the LC for their unflinching support to this undertaking from the inception stage to the conclusion. We also acknowledge with thanks, the vital role played by Mrs. Guglielma da Passano, UN-Habitat Technical Advisor to the Land Commission in providing editorial guidance and useful feed- back during the entire exercise. An array of individuals and institutions also contributed immensely to the successful conduct of the county meetings. We hereby mention some of their names in recognition of their contributions in the form of financial and logistical support: the Minister and staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), superintendents and local officials of the counties, our international partners in particular, the UN-Habitat for providing the funding and logistical support for these consultative meetings. Also, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) for logistical and related support during the consultative meetings in Nimba, Bong and Lofa Counties respectively and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). Finally, to the participants from the various counties, normally unheralded and acknowledged in matters such as this, we say in the proverbial Liberian jargon ‘thank you yah’ for taking time off your engaging schedules to honor our invitation to participate in these meetings. i Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ i 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................... 1 2. OVERVIEW OF THE CONSULTATIONS.............................................................................. 6 I. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 6 II. COMMISSIONERS’ SPEECH ...................................................................................... 8 III. GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND SUMMARY OF RESPONSES BY TOPICAL ISSUE .......... 10 IV. OVERVIEW OF LAND CONFLICTS ........................................................................ 14 V. OVERVIEW OF QUESTIONS ASKED BY PARTICIPANTS............................................. 15 VI. OVERVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................. 15 VII. PLENARY SESSIONS ............................................................................................ 16 3. COUNTY-WIDE RESPONSES TO GROUPS QUESTIONS .................................................... 17 I. RESPONSES TO GROUPS QUESTIONS ..................................................................... 17 II. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................... 44 4. CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD ............................................................................ 48 Land Commission Consultations 2010 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This section of the report is an abbreviated version of the records of the county consultative meetings held between March and April 2010. It provides information on the Land Commission, the consultative meetings, the views of participants on land issues, the key recommendations and their linkage to the program areas of the Land Commission. The Land Commission The Land Commission (LC) was established by an Act of the National Legislature of Liberia in August 2009 and has a life span of 5 years. It is an autonomous agency that is structured with seven commissioners at the strategic apex. Each commissioner is from a different county; appointed by the President and confirmed by the Liberian Senate. In addition to the commissioners, there is a technical secretariat which provides technical and administrative support to the Commission. The mandate of the Commission is to ‘Propose, advocate and coordinate reforms of land policy, laws and programs in Liberia’. Contrary to the widely held public view and perception, the LC does not have adjudicatory powers or an implementation role. Its specific policy objectives include the pursuit of: Equitable and productive access to the nation’s land, both public and private; Security of tenure in land and the rule of law with respect to landholdings and dealings in land; Effective land administration and management; and Investment in and development of the nation’s resources. The functions of the Commission are multiple and they include the following: To undertake fact-finding studies and public consultations on land; To recommend actions, programs, and reforms of land policy and law; To call together government ministries and agencies to consider complex issues relating to land, including the creation of task forces; To propose to the President actions to deal with urgent land problems; and To propose legislation and supervise its drafting, including amendments to the constitution in respect to land matters. To achieve optimal organizational efficiency and effectiveness, the work of the Commission is programmed into specialty areas; namely, (1) Land Administration, (2) Policy and Program Development, (3) Dispute Resolution, (4) Land Use Management, (5) Education and Outreach, and (5) Land Law, with each area headed by a commissioner. These areas are not mutually exclusive but complement each other in addressing specific land issues and accomplishing certain objectives of the Commission. In addition to these, each commissioner has oversight responsibility for either one or more of the 15 counties of Liberia. 1 Land Commission Consultations 2010 The Consultations The County Consultative Meetings were planned and organized by the Land Commission to familiarize local authorities in the counties with the Commission, its members, mandate, operations and programs. The meetings were a follow-up to the 2008 Regional Consultative Meetings organized by the Governance Commission of Liberia on land issues. Specifically, they were geared towards soliciting the views of the Liberian citizenry on land issues. The meetings were also driven by the Government of Liberia (GOL) Land Policy Agenda as contained in its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of 2008 - 2011. The consultative meetings were convened in the administrative headquarters of the 15 counties of Liberia and brought together a targeted audience of paramount, clan and town chiefs, district commissioners, public surveyors, land commissioners, women’s groups, civil society and youth organizations. Except for Lofa County with seven (7) groups representing the seven districts of the county, all other county participants were randomly assigned to four groups and asked to respond to a set of structured questions on land issues. The topics around which the questions were formulated included: (a) access to public and private land, (b) security of tenure in land, (c) land administration and management, and (d) investment and development of natural resources. These issues form the strategic goals and objectives of the Government of Liberia’s (GOL) agenda on land as encapsulated in the PRS. The plenary sessions on the other hand, were larger forums for participants to note agreements and disagreements on group responses, record concerns, and express opinions regarding individual group reports as presented by the chair/moderator. Each group’s presentation was followed by two to four questions. The overall impression of the discussions in the meetings was that participants had a very good understanding of what are the bottlenecks that impede the efficient functioning of the land administration and management system in Liberia. In many instances, the groups were able to formulate practical recommendations on how to overcome these problems. In general, the degree to which the people understand the formal system and its proceedings is quite low and in many instances it was pointed out that local administrative officials representing central government are contributing to the problems and the confusion in the land sector. Summary of discussion Access to land: The issue of accessing land as an asset upon which economic development thrives and poverty reduced is quite controversial, while the processes leading to its acquisition either through public or private sale have become more complex in post-conflict Liberia. For example, on the availability of land particularly public land, nine (9) out of the fifteen (15) county group participants felt there is enough land in the country that is laying idle and could be put into productive use once the appropriate regulatory framework and 2 Land Commission Consultations 2010 intervention measures are instituted, while participants from five(5) counties (Margibi, Nimba, Lofa, Bong and Grand Cape Mount Counties) expressed the view that past and recent land grabbing by wealthy individuals and concessions mainly in the agriculture sector makes the argument of land being plenty an illusion. In terms of women’s access to land, the majority of participants responded that the culture and custom of rural areas continues to support inheritance of land rights for men while women’s rights to land seem to be at the mercy of their male