The Southeast Regional Network of Community Land Development and Management Committee (SRNCLDMC) wants land authorities to promptly handle land matters in the Southeast and other parts of the country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday October 22, 2024 at the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) in Monrovia, SRNCLDMC called on the LLA to speedily resolve all boundary disputes in the country, especially in the Southeast.
The group also called on the LLA to issue deeds to communities that have completed their Customary Land Formalization (CLF). “The Liberian government should fully support the Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMC) to function as outlined in the Land Rights Act (LRA) of 2018. The Liberian Government should support the LLA through increased budgetary allocations to perform its statutory mandate as enshrined in the LRA of 2018,” the group said in a statement.
The statement further said that SRNCLDMC is aware that LLA is heavily dependent on volunteers’ staff in all the 15 counties, adding that the government should empower LLA to recruit qualified staff and also regularize the status of the volunteers’ staff. This, the group said, will ensure efficiency, accountability and transparency in the land sector.
The SRNCLDMC members are also calling on the government to speed up and finalize the development of tribal certificate regulations to protect community land rights in line with the Land Rights Act (LRA).
“Act quickly to prevent illegal sales of customary lands. The government of Liberia should be inclusive in the development and implementation of the ARREST Agenda to ensure the full protection of community lands across the country,” the statement added.
The release is further quoted as saying the Liberian Government should ensure that any plan or activity that involves customary lands should have a direct representation of the community through the CLDMCs. “We emphasize that the protection of land rights is important for peace, security, and sustainable development in the Southeastern region of Liberia. Please know that our communities deserve to live with the guarantee that their land rights are respected and protected”, the release said.
According to them, the Liberian Land Authority (LLA) has failed to address numerous boundary disputes affecting customary land-owning communities across the Southeast. This, they said, has led to tensions among communities, threatening their peace and stability of the Southeast.
They also said several of their communities have gone through the Customary Land Formalization (CLF), but are yet to get their deeds in recognition of their land rights. “This situation is not only undermining the security of land tenure, but also hampering our socio-economic development”, said SRNCLDMC.
Responding, LLA’s Director for Land Policy and Planning, Julius B. Kawa said they are aware of most of the issues in the Southeast and they are working with some communities in Grand Gedeh and other counties to receive their deeds. Director Kawa, however, disclosed the enormous challenges facing the LLA in terms of limited budgetary support, noting that the Authority was only granted US$24,000 during the just ended fiscal year for operations which he said cannot even run the generators for the first four months.
“Like the issues of budget, the LLA has been strangulated budgetary wise and in the just ended budget year the Authority was only granted US$24,000 for operations which cannot even run generators for the first four months”, Director Kawa said. LLA’s Director for Land Policy and Planning said the Authority is working with donor partners, especially the Swedish Government in supporting their projects and are targeting counties in the Southeast in addition to the United Nations’s support to five other counties.
“We know the challenges in the Southeast and we ask you not to just send the message to the LLA, but also to the Legislature and Executive branches because they are allocating the monies and they are also from those counties. Let them see reasons to empower the LLA,” he said.
Upon receiving the petition, Julius B. Kawa promised to brief the LLA’s Chairman and the Commissioners, and said that there will be an emergency meeting to review the counts contained the petition. “I received this petition and I will deeply brief the Chairman and all of the Commissioners upon their return and there will be an emergency meeting and they will go through your counts” he promised.
Following the review of the counts, Director Kawa said the LLA will get back to the leadership of SRNCLDMC with a roadmap that demonstrates the intent of the Authority to resolve some of the counts expressed in the petition, stressing that the issues of land cannot be solved by one sector, nor even the government alone.
