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Sifelani Tsiko Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor
Corruption in the land sector in Africa is rampant and it has led to a rise in the number of land disputes before the courts, forced evictions and death of many people across the entire continent.

Land management and distribution processes are largely opaque and controlled by powerful elites. Land barons have been a major headache for most African countries with little or nothing being done to rein them in.

The results have been worrying. The poor and marginalised populations have had their livelihoods threatened.

Large multinational companies, coming in the name of investment, have snapped up large chunks of productive land, leading to the forced evictions of many rural populations and the urban poor.

The major culprits have been large multinational mining and agro-based industries. At a local level, land barons continue to haunt the land sector, with land commissions or managing institutions being too weak to control them.

Bribe taking has also been a major feature of the African land sector. Voices are getting louder on how best African countries can end corruption in land.

One major factor being proposed is harnessing technology and innovation to tackle corruption in the land sector.

At the biennial land conference which is underway in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, experts say African countries must take practical steps to purge corruption in the land sector by harnessing technology and innovation.

African Development Bank (AfDB)vice president Charles Boamah told delegates at a conference on Land Policy in Africa that countries on the continent need to deploy more financial and human resources to land policy development, “especially in rural areas and among the most vulnerable.”

The biennial conference, organised by the Land Policy Centre, provides a central platform for African stakeholders to network and deepen their commitment to land policy development, implementation and monitoring, through access to knowledge and evidence-based policymaking.

This year’s dialogue, hosted by AfDB, is on the theme “Winning the Fight Against Corruption in the Land Sector: Sustainable Pathways for Africa’s Transformation.”

“This corruption takes many forms — bribery or illicit land transactions is just one example. Land developers and speculators specifically target countries with weak governance systems. Local powerful elites are also more likely to manipulate such systems to serve narrow ends not to benefit the public,” Boamah said.

According to Transparency International, globally, one in five persons has paid a bribe for a land service. In Africa, every second, a client of a land administration service has paid a bribe.

To tackle corruption in the land sector, researchers say African countries need to create land portals with information showing land ownership data, court dispute cases, distribution and ecological regions.

They suggest this should be easily accessible and shared, to enhance transparency in the land sector on the continent.

The African Development Bank, he said, is committed to working with its partners to improve governance in land administration as part of efforts to boost agriculture production.

Two of its key initiatives — the Transformation of African Agricultural Technologies (TAAT), and Connect Africa — have demonstrated innovation in this area.

Agriculture remains the backbone of many African economies. But sound land policy and administration are needed to bring it in line with 21st century practice, Boamah said.

Corruption in land governance in Zimbabwe and most other African countries has been of major concern with disputes over farms, forced evictions of the poor and vulnerable population and settling of land disputes riddled with corrupt practices.

Land barons have threatened the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable — the urban poor, slum dwellers, persons living with disability, women, children and the elderly by selling land illegally and removing them by force.

Corruption in customary land transactions has also been found to be rampant with some traditional leaders selling communal land meant for grazing and other communal uses to some rich individuals.

Said Joan Kagwanja of the Economic Commission for Africa Land Policy Centre (ALPC): “The land sector is one of the most corrupt sectors in our economies and it’s important that in addressing corruption in the broader governance of our economies that we also look at the land sector.

“It is also very important that as we promote the use of land to promote sustainable development and transformation of African economies, that we equally focus on corruption especially as it pertains to issues of investments.

“We should address issues of how we can root out corruption through policy making and also better institutions, institutions of land governance that are transparent and accessible to the majority of Africans, especially women and other minority groups.”

Sacko Correia, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Economy at the African Union Commission, called on African governments to ensure that land management processes are transparent, accountable, efficient and responsive to the new challenges of climate change, natural disasters and environmental degradation.

Corruption has marred the conversation about Africa’s growth story. It has damaged the image of most countries which are hungry to successfully attract the investment required for inclusive growth.

Corruption cuts across all sectors. Governments and private sector players must take urgent action to tackle it to promote investment and economic growth.

The use of digital technology by land commissions and land boards can help governments to conduct forensic investigations to uncover and prosecute corruption on the continent.

At present, the fight against corruption in the land sector is still being hampered by a lack of supporting legal frameworks, a lack of law – enforcement capacity and skills.

In a majority of cases, poor data capture and poor implementation processes on land management have led to conflicts, suspicion and forced evictions of the poor.

Technology is not the silver bullet, but it can help African governments to use forensic technology to root out fraudulent activity, improve governance and bring those guilty of corruption to book.

Experts on land say having a dedicated digital evidence office, with trained personnel, can be valuable tool in forensic investigations and in breaking the complex web of corruption in the land sector.

It should in a way help facilitate access to information where necessary to secure evidence and improve the possibility of timely investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.

Paper-based information hubs can be manipulated and data destroyed. In addition, it is cumbersome.

So this then requires investment in cross- departmental government information technology and systems to help bring down costs and improve not only transparency, but efficiency.

Business, government and civil society all must play a big role to help create digital land portals that are easily accessible.

This way, we can slowly butcher the elephant in the room — corruption —through closer public and private sector collaboration in the fight against corruption in the land sector.

The major winner of all this will be investor confidence and hope for the poor who are always being evicted from land.