Almost half (46%) of investors surveyed in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced disputes with local communities over land, new research from the ODI and TMP Systems has found.

As part of an ongoing initiative to facilitate responsible land investment, experts have warned companies are failing to avoid serious risks both to themselves and local communities, even though it makes financial sense to do so.

Posting Title: Programme Management Officer, Human Settlements, P4 (Temporary Job Opening)
Job Code Title: Programme Management Officer, Human Settlements
Department/Office: United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Duty Station: KINSHASA
Posting Period: 17 August 2021 – 15 September 2021
Job Opening Number: 21-Human Settlements-UN-HABITAT-162034-J-Kinshasa (E)
Staffing Exercise: N/A

The State Minister for Lands Sam Mayanja has responded to critics who accuse him of spearheading a plot by government to abolish the Mailo land tenure system and replace it with a freehold land tenure system. Mayanja has explained that the new proposals are instead aimed at strengthening ownership of land by the tenants on Mailo land so that they can acquire freehold land titles in perpetuity.

Kenyans with complaints about historical land injustices have until September 20th this year to submit their grievances to the National Land Commission. A section of rights groups believe that Kenyans have not been sensitized enough on the matter, calling for urgent measures to ensure no one is locked out.

The Rwanda Land Management & Use Authority (RMLUA), the Netherlands embassy in Kigali (EKN) and the Netherlands Enterprise and Development Agency (RVO) are delighted to announce a LAND-at-scale project in Rwanda. Together with Kadaster International and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the RMLUA, EKN and RVO will be collaborating on an ambitious project over the coming four years.

NMB Bank Plc has unveiled a partnership with the government to launch a new micro- loan facility,
designed to help their clients survey and register their land to secure title deeds

The plot loan is the first of its kind in the market and will enable people to get their land plots surveyed and registered, thus be in a position to seek a title deed. The loan will be paid directly to the government through the Ministry for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, the government announced yesterday.

The government today dissolved the Land Related Problem-Solving Commission that was formed by the KP Sharma Oli government on 22 March 2020.

The commission was formed to provide land to landless people across the country and to manage informal settlers. It had a tenure of three years.

The commission was headed by Devi Prasad Gyawali, who had lost Bharatpur Metropolitan City's mayoral race to CPN-Maoist Centre candidate and CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal's daughter Renu Dahal.

The Land Portal Foundation and Open Data Charter intend to implement the Open Up Guide for Land Governance in the period 2021 - 2024. As part of this project, we seek to develop State of Land Information (SOLI) reports for 10-12 countries in Africa and Latin America. The SOLI reports will provide an overview of publicly available data and information on key land issues from government and other stakeholders in targeted countries.

Several families along river Nile in Jinja are on the brink of losing ownership of their land as preparations for redevelopment of the area take centerstage. The residents however claim the investor, Heritage Site Uganda, has no authority over their land. Buikwe Resident District Commissioner, Jane Francis Kagayi has since asked the investor to liaise with the physical planner's office to establish facts about the land in order to avoid future land wrangles.

In May 2021, the numbers of households whose land rights have been secured with the support by the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy have reached a peak: Thanks to the hard work of our partners and project teams, 110.163 households had their land legally documented by then, corresponding to about  550.000 people directly benefitting.

Whenever the word ‘lease’ is mentioned, three things must come to mind; periodic holding, terms and conditions, and reversionary interests. These features are indispensable to this tenure system because by definition, it is the form of land holding that affords exclusive ownership to be granted by an owner of land, whom we call “the lessor” or “landlord” to another person, called “the lessee” or “tenant” for a period of time, after which such land “reverts” to the lessor. Leases accommodate no perpetuity, however long the period in the lease may be.

In the recent years, commercial banks have widened categories of assets that are considered for secured lending perhaps due to improved measures of risk mitigation.

Of particular interest has been the Bibanja Interests on land which the commercial banks now accept as collateral for secured lending.