Land Conference Report courtest of Shekpendeh Newspaper

Culture Radio/Green Scenery End National Land Conference 

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda and Ilyasa Baa 

With support from Bread for the World and Welt Hunger Hilfe, Culture Radio FM 104.5 and Green Scenery, have ended a three-day national land governance conference, held Monday 11^th – Wednesday 13^th July 2016 at the Sierra Leone Police officers Mess in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Under the theme ‘Our Land – Our Right – Our Responsibility’, the conference which brought together civil society organizations working on land rights, print and electronic journalists, landowners as well as land users from across the country, aimed at highlighting the gaps in land deals with multinational companies investing in agriculture and how a win-win situation can be achieved so as to avoid imminent conflicts.

At the opening ceremony witnessed by distinguished personalities from government line ministries such as the Ministry of Land Country Planning and the Environment, security forces including the police and army, international non-governmental organizations, donor agencies and the German Embassy in Freetown, statements aimed at dilating on the complexities and realities surrounding large scale and long term land acquisition by multinational companies, were made.

Research based power point presentations on key thematic issues such as the current land situation in the country as it relates to international investments in land, the possibilities and challenges of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of national food security (VGGT) and the current status of the legal reform process around land – the new National Land Policy, the chapter on land in the abridged version of the constitutional review process and road ahead of implementation, were also made.

In his statement, Dr. Alphajoh Cham representing the Ministry of Land Country Planning and the Environment, spoke about the land tenure system and governance in Sierra Leone, pointing out that existing challenges range from inequitable land access and large-scale land acquisition to lack of geo-spatial and cadastral information system, conflicting interests on land use for public and private purposes, and corruption.

Dr. Cham said the relevance of the new National Land Policy is anchored on the fact it is a national priority under Pillar 2 of the Agenda for Prosperity 2013-2018, strategy 7.3 under the Post-Ebola Recovery Plan, and it also in tandem with goals 15, 11, 5, 2 and 1 under the Sustainable Development Goals (zero hunger, gender equality, sustainable cities, poverty eradication etc.).

The specific objectives of the policy, among other things, he said, is to promote land law reforms, ensure tenure security and protect land rights, promote equitable access, promote sound land use planning and development, decentralize land administration and reduce/eradicate land disputes and/or conflicts.

In his statement representing civil society organizations working around land rights issues, Executive Director of Sustainable Environment and Development Association (SEDA) Bun Wai, said, the country’s land tenure system is burdened with major challenges of poor governance and inequitable distribution.

He noted that the assumption by government and local authorities that investors are indispensable in achieving national economic development has greatly undermined the rights of ordinary people to own land, stressing that government is constantly transferring ownership of land from poor families to so-called investors through unfair deals that are not predicated on free, prior and informed consent.

Injustice in the land sector, Mr. Bun Wai who happens to be the Acting Coordinator of the Action for Large Scale Land Acquisition Transparency (ALLAT) said, could be a recipe for conflict and political unrest, unless the right steps are taken to right the situation.

Muniru Koroma representing the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) on the special chapter on land in the upcoming new constitution of the Republic of Sierra Leone explained that the abridged version of the new constitution recommends the maintenance of the two tier land tenure system and the removal of all forms of discrimination on land ownership in the country.

He said to protect citizens’ land rights, the CRC recommends that non-citizenship ownership should be limited to lease land for a period not exceeding 25 years and subject to approval by the community and/or land owning families.

According to him, well over 30 old land laws are to be repealed by parliament in order to engender more fairness and equity in the ownership and use of land in the country, adding that there is a recommendation which sprouts from the National Land Policy for the establishment of a National Land Commission.

Delivering the keynote address, the German Ambassador to Sierra Leone Ambassador Wolfgang Wiethoff echoed that the people and Government of Sierra Leone own the land reform process and therefore bear the responsibility of determining which trajectory it should take.

Ambassador Wolfgang Wiethoff reiterated the fact that vast majority of the people depend on land for livelihood, mainly through agriculture. This he pointed out is as a result of the fact that other sectors have not been able to provide adequate employment opportunities.

As the reform process progresses, he said all stakeholders should ask the following question along the way: Are there adequate laws? Are the laws too old? Do the laws treat everybody equally? Are policies and laws fully implemented? Is there the political will?

He went further to say that land management and use should be within the context of poverty alleviation, food security, creating job opportunities and engendering national economic development, adding that Sierra Leone has the potential to produce enough food for the open market and for export.

The role of civil society organizations and the media, Ambassador Wolfgang Wiethoff maintained, is as important as the success of the reforms hoped for.

He congratulated Culture Radio and Green Scenery for organizing the conference, concluding that the role of the German diplomatic team is to observe and provide support for the land reform process.

Presenting an overview on international land deals in the country, the Programs Manager of the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF), Abass J. Kamara, said since 2007, there has been rapid large-scale land takeover from poor and vulnerable people mostly farmers by big mining companies and multinational companies operating in the agricultural sector.

He said the widely accepted view that Sierra Leone has abundant arable land has been contradicted by empirical research which states that there is already pressure for arable land in the country.

Mr. Kamara added that land deals such as those struck by Sierra Leone China Agricultural Development Company, Socfin Agriculture, African Land Limited and the defunct ADDAX Bioenergy, are appalling and unrepresentative of the people’s interest.

The consequences of bad land deals he went on, include destruction of livelihoods, increased potential for conflict and other social problems.

On the current status of legal reform process, Lawyer Sonkita Conteh, head of the legal aid group NAMATI emphasized the need for mass awareness raising around land related issues.

He said most people do not have access to information, do not know what they have, what their rights are and how they can defend these rights. NAMATI, he said, provides assistance in this regard. He disclosed that the act whereby government sets prices for community and family land is illegal and also withholding 50% from land sale proceeds by government is blatant thievery.

Lawyer Sonkita Conteh referred to the new National Land Policy as a good policy and that its full implementation is the next important step for stakeholders. He emphasized the need to transform the policy into law for it to have full legal effect. The question as to whether the laws would be codified into one law or several still lingers, he stressed.

On experiences from Sahn Malen, an affected community in Pujehun, former Member of Parliament Shiaka Musa Sama who happens to be the spokesman of the Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) said there is constant harassment and intimidation of MALOA members, a civil society organization formed to articulate and defend the rights of land owning families.

On the way forward, he said government must set up among other things, an independent body to investigate the issue and pay commensurate compensation to people who have lost their lands.

Madam Maria Teresa Perez Rocha from the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) in Uruguay, delivering a presentation, said her organization provides support to communities that grapple with the challenge of defending their territories and forests against multinational companies.

She said WRM, since its establishment, has provided support to communities affected by large-scale industrial tree plantations in Latin America, Asia and Africa, adding that large scale industrial tree plantations often create severe problems and conflicts for local communities.

Awareness raising and media engagement, she noted, have exposed bad companies and this has had serious repercussion on their finances.

Also making presentations at the conference where Joseph Rahall of Green Scenery, Christian Schultz of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) who spoke about the importance of the VGGT in protecting land rights and Peter Pijpers representing Natural Habitat, one of the multinational companies operating in the country. 

Despite being critical of him, conference participants praised the Natural Habitat manager for honouring the invitation to deliver a statement regarding the operation of the company and its impact on communities affected by its work. This is so because multinational companies hardly attend such events. 

The conference ended with the formulation of a National Advocacy Strategy and a National Media Strategy, as well as a communiqué demanding for positive changes in the country’s land governance system.

Special guests at the conference were Marion Aberle, Head International Advocacy Team of Welt Hunger Hilfe in Germany, Caroline Kruckow and Andrea Mueller from Bread for the World in Germany and Maria Teresa Perez Rocha from the World Rainforest Movement in Uruguay.