Course Tittle: Land Law I

Chapter Two

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 Current Land Governance: Laws and
Polices

LL.M in Land and Environmental Law

Lecure By: Daniel Behailu, Dr. iur., Asst. Profesor at Hawassa University

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Land Governance

The current land legal regimes includes:

• FDRE Constitution
• Federal land proclamation
• Regional land proclamations
• Lease proclamations
• Expropriation Laws
• Plus,
• Civil Code
• Custom and informal land deals
• Hence, there exists legal pluralism in land governance of Ethiopia
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Current LG

 FDRE Constitution:
 The constitution was enacted in 1995
 It provides for the overarching principle of the land policy
 I.e. public ownership of land (art.40)
 Joint Ownership is vested in the NNPs of Ethiopia and government
Hence, can it be argued that:
Access to land and use of land rights depend on ‘membership’ to NNPs
See and argue on the assertion in line with article 39 of the FDRE constitution
Again Access to land is for fee ( & for indefinite time) on conditions that one:
Attaining majority age, >18,
Resident of a given rural community,
And, chose agriculture as a sole livelihood( choice element)
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 Current LG
Article 40: The Right to Property
1. Every Ethiopian citizen has the right to the ownership of private property. Unless prescribed otherwise by law
on account of public interest, this right shall include the right to acquire, to use and, in a manner compatible
with the rights of other citizens, to dispose of such property by sale or bequest or to transfer it otherwise.
2. "Private property", for the purpose of this Article, shall mean any tangible or intangible product which has
value and is produced by the labour, creativity, enterprise or capital of an individual citizen, associations
which enjoy juridical personality under the law, or in appropriate circumstances, by communities specifically
empowered by law to own property in common.
3. The right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources, is
exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of Ethiopia. Land is a common property of the
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means
of exchange.
4. Ethiopian peasants have right to obtain land without payment and the protection against
eviction from their possession.The implementation of this provision shall be specified by law.
5. Ethiopian pastoralists have the right to free land for grazing and cultivation as well as the right not to
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be displaced from their own lands. The implementation shall be specified by law.
Current
6. Without prejudice to the right of Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples to the
ownership of land, government shall ensure the right of private investors to the
use of land on the basis of payment arrangements established by law. Particulars
shall be determined by law.
7. Every Ethiopian shall have the full right to the immovable property he
builds and to the permanent improvements he brings about on the land by his
labour or capital. This right shall include the right to alienate, to bequeath, and, where
the right of use expires, to remove his property, transfer his title, or claim
compensation for it. Particulars shall be determined by law.
8. Without prejudice to the right to private property, the government may
expropriate private property for public purposes subject to payment in
advance of compensation commensurate to the value of the property.
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Current LG

Article 40 (3) of the FDRE Constitution states that:

• The right to ownership of rural land and urban land, as well as all natural resources, is exclusively vested
in the state and the people of Ethiopia.
• Land is a common property of the Nation, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and
• (It) shall not be subject to sale or to other means of transfer.

The ownership is granted to the state and the people,

• which calls for serious attention to the concept of ‘common or joint ownership of property.’
• Are they joint owners or
• Do the state (being the ‘agent’ of the people) exercises ownership right on behalf of the people?
Debate: Can we say that the people and the state are two separate entities?
Who are NNPs of Ethiopia?
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 Current LG
 Article 39 (5) of the FDRE Constitution states that:
 A ‘Nation, Nationality and People’ for the purpose of this constitution, is a group of people who have
or share large measures of:
 common culture or similar customs,
 mutual intelligibility of language,
 belief in common or related identities, a common psychological makeup, and
 who inhabits an identifiable, predominately contiguous territory
 Once the Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples of Ethiopia as a group are identified,
 they are made joint owners.
 The next query is what meanings do we affix to the notion of ‘joint owner’ or ‘common-property
owner’ in this context?
 Debate on the matter and discuss implication of positions ? How do NNP translate into
regions (regional governments- who decides on access?)?
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Current LG

Members of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are the following.

• 1. Tigrai State 2. Afar State 3. Amara State
• 4. Oromia State 5. Somali State 6. Benshangul/Gumaz/ State
• 7. Southern Peoples' State* 8. Gambela Peoples' State
• 9. Harari Peoples' State
For example: SNNPRS
• *The Nations, Nationalities and peoples of the ‘Southern Peoples‘’ State are the following:
• Hadiya, Hamer, Melon ,Mursi ,Minit, Male ,Surma, Sidama ,Shekoch, Sheko Busa, Besketo
• Burji, Bencho Bodi, Nao Gnangatamo, Alaba Kembata ,Keficho Kore (Amaro) Konso Konta,
Arbore, Aide Ori ,Wolaita Zeise, Zelmam,Yem
• Dime Disenech, Dawro Dizi, Gaweda ,Gurage ,Gidicha ,Gidole Gamo Gedeo Gobeze, Gofa,
Tenbaro, Chara, Tsemay
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 Current LG
 Thus, in a nutshell, land ownership is a group right exercised via the government.
 The constitution authorizes the government to administer land,
 which is the common property of the Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples.
 Accordingly, the government is to provide land for the peasants as well as the urban dwellers as per the
law,
 which is to be enacted detailing the constitutional rule and its overarching policy.
 The constitution sanctions state ownership of land and
 no other law of the nation (federal or regional) must contradict with the overriding
principle.
 One salient feature of this provision is that land is:
 the property of the government and
 holding right can be extended to peasants and other interested groups as per the law detailing the
issues of land use.
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 LG
 Article 40 of the FDRE Constitution deals with the right to property and it has eight
sub-articles.
 The constitution extends the right to ownership of private property and the right to acquire, use, and
dispose such property with proviso.
 The proviso applies with regard to land as a property.
 Accordingly, citizens can acquire and use land but cannot dispose of land for there is a law prohibiting
it including the constitution itself.
 The constitution defines private property as:
 Any tangible or intangible product, which has value and is produced by the labor, creativity,
enterprise or capital of individual citizen, association, which enjoyed judicial personality
under the law, or in appropriate circumstances, by communities specifically empowered by the law
to own property in community.
 What does this definition imply and why does it find a space in the constitution?
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 LG
 Full ownership right to property shall include:
 the right to alienate, to bequeath, and, where the right of use expires, to remove his
property, transfer his title, or claim compensation in the event of expropriation.
 The constitution effectively excludes land from private property regime and limits the bundles of rights
attached to private property.
 The right over rural land in Ethiopia is usufruct right whether it is accessed by:
 land distribution, redistribution, inheritance, or rent system etc.
 The Ethiopian peasants have the right to obtain land without payment, and they are afforded protection
against eviction from the possession.
 A citizen can access rural land in principle free of any payment.
 The question is land being the property of Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples of Ethiopia and government
being its custodian;
 it is not clear whether the right is extended to all citizens everywhere in the country or
 to citizens via the group, i.e., Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples, thereby conditioning access
12 to membership
Current LG_ Activities

Debate on the matter of land access in light of the prevailing practice ?

• How do regional authorities more so local authorities grant access to land?

• Do you know any controversial issues on the matter?

How do courts entertain such issue?

What if denial of right to access is brought to court on the basis of art.40 (4)?

How do you see the infrequent and covert move of local officials towards ‘aliens’
• ‘Get out of our land?’
• The case in Benshangul Gumuz
• Gura ferda case
13 • Gamebella case
 Current LG
 The FDRE Constitution (art.51) by establishing a federal system has also outlined which level of
government has the right to exercise what power over land matters.
 Accordingly, the federal for the utilization and conservation of land and
other natural resources,
 whereas the regional government bears the duty to administer land and natural resources as
per the law of the federal government.
 The practical solution adopted on the ground is, however,
 the federal government enacted a framework legislation and
 the framework legislation prescribes laws by which the administration duty is to be discharged
with the obligation to enact laws,
 by each regional state to effectively administer land and natural resources in their own context.
 No regional law must conflict with the federal framework legislation but within the given
discretion they can come up with their own laws and detailed rules for the implementation of the
14 federal framework legislation.
Federal Rural Land Laws: Rendering Framework Guides

The first framework legislation enacted to implement the constitution was:

• the Federal Rural Land Administration Proclamation No. 89/1997.
• However, this proclamation was repealed and replaced by
• the Rural Land Administration and Land Use Proclamation No. 456/2005.

Hence, the current law is Proclamation No. 456/2005.

The land law has confirmed in its preamble the constitutional overarching principle that the
land belongs to the state and the people of Ethiopia.

The preamble of the proclamation gives ample insight into the purpose of the
law and its commands.
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 Current
 The preamble of the framework legislation subscribes to the principle of sustainable
development and commits to sustainably conserve and develop natural resources with the view to
pass it over to the next generation intact.
 Debate on SD in line with the details of the law and the policy direction?
 What is the meaning of SD?
 Is this principle in line with public ownership of Land?
 Does the law invite free ridership?
 Is the policy destructive or protective of the environment?
 Does the law concurs with the definition of sustainable development given by the Bertrand
Commission.
SD is a development that meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of the future generation to meet its needs.

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Current LG

 Not only the proclamation subscribes to the principle of sustainable development but
also obliges the law to be enacted taking into consideration ‘the different agroecological
zones of the country.’
 Hence, by necessary implication, each different agroecological zone in Ethiopia will
have guide legislation suitable to their zone.
 However, careful scrutiny of the provisions of the framework legislation reveals the
‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Debate on this issue in line with pastoral societies

need and the matter of community land?

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 Current

 The preamble calls also for the establishment of:

 Information database, which enables to identify the size, direction and use rights of the different type of landholding in
the county such as:
 individual,
 communal and
 federal & regional government landholdings.
 Thus, each piece of land is to be registered, and information database is to be established.
 Irrespective of the nature or type of the land, appropriate information has to be gathered as per the framework law.
 The types of land mentioned by the preamble are, obviously, indicative and by no means exhaustive.
 The phrase ‘such as’ in the language of the law indicates that the list is not exhaustive, and hence, other types of land could
be kept in the registry.

Yet, to date registration of communal and government land is lagging behind?

There is no legal framework to register pastoral land as well? Hence, what happens to the
18 objective of the law?
 Current LG
 The other grand objective enshrined in the preamble of Proclamation No. 456/2005 is the need to establish a
conducive system of rural land administration to deal with the hurdles in land matters and
 encourage individual farmers, pastorals, and agricultural investors to be more productive.
 The conducive system must be geared to the spirit of the constitution,
 which is promoting sustainable development and good governance in land.
 Hence, all actors on the rural land are to be encouraged to develop the land and natural resources in a
sustainable way.
 Especially large-scale investors must undergo environmental impact assessment studies before they are
allowed to alter the natural landscape and venture to develop it.
 However, the facts on the ground suggest that the big investors are not complying with this requirement, and
 there is sheer weakness on the part of the government to see to it that these requirements are complied with.
 On the other hand, the spirit of the law calls for big applause, and its compliance must be ensured,
How the land administration and use offices are established? ( both at federal and regional level), can they effectively
implement the laws and the notion of SD? What are administrative hurdles in Ethiopia with respect to land?
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 Current LG
 Moreover, the preamble calls for legal condition to be provided to halt soil erosion and forest
degradation.
 Undeniably, the land policy that have been pursued for the last four decades only resulted in:
 land fragmentation, land degradation, soil erosion, and
 forest resource degradation.
 The spirit of the law in here is thus to encourage farmers to take necessary conservation
measures where erosion has caused and/or is causing damage and forest degradation has already
happened.
 One has to wonder here what kind of legal condition is to be provided to encourage farmers to engage
in the good work.
 It is natural to assume that the condition would be:
 positive perhaps rewarding, yet the law chose punitive conditions
Discuss: How do you assess this?
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 Types of Rural Landholdings
 There are three types of land in rural Ethiopia, and such types of land are identified in terms of the holders of
the land.
 Hence, identifying the types thereto is helpful to have the general picture of the land available in the rural land
to which the question of access to it can be answered.
 These types of land are: ( as per article 2 (11-13) of the land proclamation)
 Private Holding; A private holding can be defined as the holding of a peasant or farmer or semi-pastoralist
or pastoralist or other bodies who are entitled to use rural land by the law, the minimum size of which is
specified and usufruct rights are extended including the right of renting and inheriting the land within the
limits of the law
 State holding: Land demarcated and those lands to be demarcated in the future as federal or
regional holding; and include forest lands, wildlife protected area, state farms, mining lands, lakes, rivers
and other lands.
 Communal holding: a rural land, which is given by the government to local residents for common
grazing, forestry, and other social services
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 How and who can access rural land anyway?
 Once again, the law seems to make categories in order to grant access to land especially as ‘private holding.’
 Article 5 of Proclamation No. 456/2005 talks of peasants, any citizens, women, family members of peasants,
investors, and government and nongovernment organizations as eligible to access land.
 A scrutiny of the provision under article five suggests that priority is made among the lists eligible to access rural land.
 First in the priority list comes peasants who are already engaged in agriculture for living, so that they shall be given rural
land without payment.
 The language of the law which states
 “…peasants farmers/pastoralist ‘engaged in agriculture’ for living shall be given rural land” deserves
special attention.
 The law emphasizes the fact that agricultural activity ought to be ventured to for living; it cannot be a side business.
 The Paradox: yet, there could be farmers without private holding and accessing land via rent, sharecropping, and other
means, and hence, the law seems to give absolute priority to them.
 Where to source the land , Source is:
 Government being the owners of land, it can change communal land to private holding and can
allocate to such peasants or it can also allocate land under its domain, abandoned land if any, or a land
22 no more actively operated owing to absence of an heir living with the farmer upon death.
 Access
 Article 5(1) (b) provides for the second category of people who can be afforded access to the rural land,
 “…any citizen of the country who is 18 years of age and wants to engage in agriculture for a
living shall have the right to use rural land.”
 There are two conditions to get rural land in here;
 first, the interested citizen must show interest to engage in agriculture for living, and second,
she or he must be of age.
 Where these conditions are met, she or he will be extended the ‘right to use rural land’;
 on the other hand, peasants who are engaged in agriculture ‘will be given land.’
 The law in principle extends right to use rural land in the second category without promising the prompt
access to land for immediate cultivation.
 Moreover, the law extends rights to use land to orphaned children.
 They shall have the right to use rural land through legal guardians until they attain 18 years of age.
 Women are also included in this category; meaning, if they chose to engage in agriculture, they could be afforded
the right to use land, which awaits actual access.
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 access
 The clear difference between people who could access land in category one and category two is that
only the right to use rural land is recognized in the latter,
 while in the former, it seems, they will be given land for cultivation right away.
 The third category of people is mentioned under Article 5(4) of Proclamation No. 456/2005,
 which reads:
 “subject to giving priority to peasant farmers, semi-pastoralist and pastoralist…” investors and
organizations shall use rural lands subject to the legal limitation.
 The investors shall access land for the development purpose only!
 while government, nongovernment organization, and other institutions must show that land is
required for the:
 furtherance of their organizational objective:
 The purpose for which they are established need to be assessed.
Question: how do you see the prioritization in terms of the influence of the investors these days?
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 Access. How?
 The final issues would be to identify the practical steps that ensure access to land.
 One may access land mainly in one of the following ways:
 via inheritance, government grant, and/or lease or gift.
 Naturally, owing to strong family cohesion,
 intra-family land donation is quite common among the rural community in Ethiopia.
 For instance, a father giving some portion of land to his child who is of age and wants to form his own
family is not uncommon to witness.
 Inheritance is also quite a big factor in granting access to the peasant farmers in Ethiopia.
 However, the law defines family members who can have access to their parents’ land via inheritance.
The law defines it as (article 2 (5)),
 “family member means any person who permanently lives with the holder of holding
rights sharing the livelihood of the latter.
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Inheritance
 There are no blood requirements to be a family member to inherit land or receive donations from the
holder.
 The requirement is if one lives with the holder and that she or he shares his or her livelihood, it
suffices that to be an heir is legitimate.
 The law clearly excludes a family member as close as one’s son or daughter from inheriting a use right if
one of these conditions is not fulfilled.
 The law has a repercussion on aging parents, who could have been supported easily by their
children engaged in other livelihood activities hoping to inherit land at the end of the day.
 The provisions of the law is also in conflict with the provisions of the Civil Code of Ethiopia,
which regulates succession and rules of succession.
Thus, who is a family member as per the law? Debate on it as well in terms of its
implications and the position of regional laws? What about its influence on family
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and culture?
 Access
 In addition to inheritance and intra-family gift of land, government distribution of rural land can give access to the
peasantry. Article 9 of Proclamation No. 456/2005 states that:
 Depending on the law of the regions; farmlands whose holder are deceased and have no heirs or are
gone for settlement or left locality on own wish and stayed over a given period of time shall be
distributed to peasant farmers who have no land and who has land shortage.
 The law does not presuppose redistribution in here which demands the taking away of part of the farmland from an
active farmer and giving it to the landless.
 However, the distribution envisaged in here is more of the land belonging to the farmer who has no heirs, i.e., an heir living
with him sharing his livelihood.
 Obviously, the regional states have to enact laws, which put time frame for a peasant to be dispossessed in case
one left his locality.
 Accordingly, some of the regional state laws (for example, the TNRS) have specified two years.
 The distribution can be effected with respect to land vacated by farmers who migrated to other locality on their accord or
has been moved by settlement plan.
What do you think is the position of the law on redistribution of private holding
27 and why?
 Access
 On the other hand, irrigable land is subject to redistribution at any time; perhaps owing to the high
value attached to such lands.
 Hence, holding right over irrigable land is less secure compared to the landholding rights,
which are not irrigable.
 Where the farmers are to be evicted entirely owing to the construction of irrigation structure,
 land distribution shall be undertaken to enable them to get an equitable benefit from the
irrigation development to be established.
 It may be the case that where large-scale irrigation structures are put in place, there will not be enough
land for distribution to the local farmers.
 In such circumstance, provision of the law-regulating compensation decides the fate of the
farmer.
 They can be given compensation for the developments they made on the land or substitute elsewhere
will be sought and shall be granted to the evicted.
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 Access
 The other condition provided by the law whereby redistribution of land is to be resorted to is upon:
 the free wish of the peasants if they requested the redistribution to be effected.
 Thus, where there is such demand by the farmers or pastoralists, the administration must redistribute
land.
 However, such redistribution must not result in rural land fragmentation and needs to be in line
with the minimum size holding required by the law.
 This is also another concern for tenure insecurity whenever the new generation outnumbers the existing;
 hence, the request for redistribution can easily be pushed to the administrative organ or
 it can be also subject to manipulation by local governments for political reasons and ends.

Debate on the matter?

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 Registration of land rights
 One of the grand objectives of the law is to establish a national database over rural lands.
 Rural lands on which the database have to be kept is any land outside of a municipality holding or a
town designated as such by a relevant law.
 The database enables to identify the size, direction, and use rights of different types of rural
lands.
 The available types of rural land are:
 private holdings, communal holdings, and state holdings, and hence, with all these
three types of land, the registration has to be effected.
 The question is, what is registration of land all about? (article 2 (15)
 The law defines registration as the process where information on the expression of
rural land use right and holding is gathered and analyzed.
 Hence, the registration is a process by which two kinds of information are gathered and analyzed.
 First, information on the expression of rural land use rights has to be collected. Second, information
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has to also be gathered about the holding.
registration
 The law is not quite clear about the definition of ‘land use rights’ and the limitations thereto; instead,
 it defines the ‘rural land use’ as a process whereby rural land is conserved and sustainably used in a
manner that gives better output.
 Accordingly, the use right must be parallel to this definition.
 Whosoever is afforded a holding right of rural land has to put it in a use that conserves the land and
enables sustainable use.
 The registration has to also include information on the quality of land and the holder’s full identity and
address thereto.
 As per Article 6(1) of the Proclamation No. 456/2005:
 All types of land shall be measured as appropriate using, cultural and modern
measuring equipment’s;
 their land use and level of fertility shall be registered as well in the database center by
the competent authorities established at all levels.
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 Registration
 The competent authority is a body established in accordance with the constitution of the regional states
to ensure that a system of rural land administration and utilization is realized in the region.
 The principal function of this authority is to establish a regional land database and issue
certificates to holders of the land indicating the identity of the holder, location of the land,
the size of the land, and so on.
 Accordingly, land certificate has been defined by the law as a certificate of title issued by the competent
authority as a proof of rural land use rights.
 It is essential to identify and clearly spell out the essence and meaning of rural land use rights.
 Hence, a holding right is: (article 2 (4)
 The right of a peasant farmer or semi-pastoralist and pastoralist shall have to use rural
land for the purpose of agriculture and natural resource development, lease and
bequeath to members of the his family or other lawful heirs, and includes the right to
acquire property produced on his land thereon by his labor or capital and to sale,
32 exchange and bequeath the same.
Registration
 The definition only specifies the private holding rights of peasants and pastoralist and excludes other
organs that can have rights over the land,
 namely, the community and the government (especially pastoral land).
 Concisely, the certificate must be issued as a proof of rural land use rights.
 A typical certificate must include, therefore,
 the name and address of the land user,
 name of the spouse (where applicable), and
 name of the neighboring or adjacent holders with their location.
 Moreover,
 it includes the size of the holding as measured either by traditional method or modern equipment;
quality of the land as fertile, semi-fertile, or barren; map of the land (where applicable and
necessary); name of the locality in which the piece of land is located including the district and
region; and name and address of the issuing authority.
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The green-book

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Certification

35
Women and land

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 Registration
 The law not only recognized the right of women to acquire land and engage in agriculture if they chose
to,
 but also when land is a joint holding right of the couple, the name of the wife has to
also be mentioned in the certificate of title.
 Hence, the holding certificate shall be prepared in the name of all the joint holders.
 Joint holders could be couples or other persons;
 these other persons possibly be heirs who could inherit land from the parents and could not divide it
owing to the minimum-size holding restriction.
 The minimum size of the land has to be determined in every regional state law, and hence, land
allocation or inheritance divide must respect this law.
 The idea of establishing minimum holding is to prevent the land from further fragmentation below the
level where the productivity of the land cannot achieve the food security of the holder.

37
 Registration
 The fixing of minimum size is problematic in the face of the prohibition of the law
to sale or rent the land and divide the proceeds among the heirs.
 For instance, where Mr. X has one hectare of land and he passed away
leaving his wife and five children behind, as per the inheritance
provisions of the civil code, half of the land is the property of his wife and
the other half goes to his children to which all have equal rights.
 Assume also a regional state law, which establishes half hectare as the minimum
holding size, and hence the question is who gets the land, as the land cannot be
subdivided below the minimum ceiling.
 The obvious way out could have been to transfer the land to one for consideration or sell
or lease it to any third party and divide the proceeds thereto.

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 The other problem with joint holding is also the case of polygamy, which is a common
phenomenon in some regions of federal Ethiopia.
 Where one man keeps several wives at a time, for instance, three wives, whose
name ought to appear in the certificate as the joint holder of the land?
 One option would be to indicate all the three wives in the certificate as joint holders.
 However, the problem in here is as women are also given the right to acquire land,
 this fact may excessively benefit the man by having more wives as each of them brings
home some piece of land.

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 Registration
 The other issue that needs addressing in here is what the certificate is worthy of?
 Does it ensure tenure security?
 Can it reduce litigations over piece of land by establishing effective boundaries?
 Can one pledge or mortgage such certificate? And so on.
 The answer to some of the questions is outright ‘not at all.’
 The law prohibits sale and mortgage of land.
 Hence, to establish title over a property that one has no ownership right on is tantamount to zilch.
 Naturally, with regard to lease where the encumbrances on the law are removed, titling can be an
effective instrument to transfer land.
 On the other hand, the land use rights of peasant farmers and pastoralist have no time limit.
 However, the other holders like investors will have time limit as specified by the regional laws governing rural
land administration.
 The certificate is also essential for compensation purpose in cases of expropriation.

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 Registration-compensation
 Article 7(3) of Proclamation No. 456/2005 provides for:
 Holders of rural land who is evicted for the purpose of public use shall be given
compensation proportional to the development he has made on the land and the
property acquired or shall be given substitute land thereon.
 The rate of compensation is to be determined having regard to the law of the level of government doing
the eviction;
 if it is federal government, federal law applies, and if it is regional government, the concerned
regional law applies. *AMHARA REGION CASE
 It is important to note in here that there is no compensation for the land per se but :
 for the developments undertaken over the land or simply substitute elsewhere would be given for the
lost land, if available in case of rural land.
 The certificate in here as well can provide a concrete proof of holding rights thereby facilitating
compensation.
 The worth of the certificate is multifaceted where transfer of land rights is allowed unfettered.
41
 Transfer of Rural Land use rights
 In Ethiopia, transfer of rights over land must be construed within the framework of public
ownership of land.
 Accordingly,
 a few mechanisms of transfer of rural land use rights are readily identifiable;
 these are inheritance and lease.
 The other mechanism, which is donation, also exists, yet the framework legislation is silent about it.
 Lease is a right extended to a holder of the rural land with multiple restrictions.
 Article 8(1) of Proclamation No. 456/2005 reveals that:
 Peasants/ farmers, semi-pastoralists and pastoralist who are given holding certificate
can lease to other farmers or investors land from their holding of a size sufficient for the
intended development in a manner that shall not displace them, for a period of time to
be determined by rural land administration laws of regions based on particular
conditions.
42
Transfer
 The law pronounces the importance of holding certificate to exercise leasing rights.
 There are also two possible lessees;
 these are farmers themselves and investors.
 The distinctions have been readily picked up by the regional government,
 and the time frame (lease period) varies whether one is leasing land to the fellow
farmer or investor, and
 usually a longer period of lease and attendant, more rights are extended to the
investor.

43
Transfer conditions
 Thus, the general conditions of lease contracts are:
 1. Holding certificate:
 A farmer who wants to lease out the land must show that he has a holding certificate
issued from the competent authority.
 Where such certificate is not issued,
 there is no lease rights, and given the absence of regular updates of
registry to those even certificates are already issued, the precondition is
a practical hindrance.
 However, new titles coming with inheritance or donation would await to lease the land
until new certificates are to be issued to them by the competent organ.
 Besides, pastoral lands are not registered, and hence,
44  no certificate, i.e., no renting rights.
 Transfer
 2. No-eviction requirement:
 The lease right is to be exercised in a manner that does not displace the farmer from his livelihood
source, which is the land. Thus, the lease rights can only be exercised with regard to a portion of the
land.
 For instance,
 if a farmer has one hectare of land, he can only lease a portion of the land, leaving the
minimum-size holding for him, and
 the land to be leased also must fit to the minimum size to be determined by the competent
authorities.
 Where the land is so fragmented especially in the highland areas of Ethiopia, the family
landholding size is already nearly equal to the minimum size or below, and hence,
the right to lease their land practically does not exist.
 In other words, the densely populated area of Ethiopia is excluded from the rights to lease their
45
land either to their fellow neighbors or to investors de facto.
Transfer
 3. Period of lease:
 The period of lease is not left for the lease contract parties but is to be fixed by the
competent authority.
 Hence, the authority determines how long a farmer should rent his land to other
farmers or investors.
 The regional laws usually make a distinction between;
 rent to farmers who use archaic technology and
 investors with modern technology, the latter being given a longer period.

46
 Transfer
 4. Consent:
 The landholder must secure the consent of all the members who have the right to use the land.
 Who are the members who have the right to use the land?
 The answer can be hinted by the definition given to the ‘family member’ as any person who
permanently lives with the holder of holding rights sharing the livelihood of the latter.
 Accordingly, all persons who are of age and sharing the livelihood of the latter by living and
working with him or her must consent to the rent agreement.
 Since husbands and wives are joint holders of the land conferred by the law equal use rights, it is self-
evident in here that both must consent to the lease contract for the contract to be valid.
 5. Registration:
 Finally, the competent authorities must register the contract. And hence, the customary rent which
is quite prevalent in the nation is hereby illegal.

47
 Transfer
 However, once the lease agreement is reached, having met all these conditions, and if the investor is
the lessee, he or she has the right to present his use rights as collateral.
 The fact of the matter is, often investors are leasing land from the government, not from the
farmers.
 The government claims it has a huge ‘unutilized’ or ‘unclaimed’ land, especially in the lowlands of
the country, which it wants to give out to investors and is doing so.
 Nevertheless, the poor farmers are not to reach the investors because of the cumbersome
requirements of the law, thereby limiting the potential of their land to better their lot.
 Therefore, all these preconditions must be fulfilled to rent out rural land, which practically destroys the
right, which seems to have been half-heartedly included in the law to begin with.
 The free transfer rights in terms of long-term lease could have achieved and fetched the advantages
of the private ownership of land :
 without compromising the interest of the holder and permanently evicting him or her
48 and enabled the farmer to reap the benefits from the lease agreement.
 Transfer
 The second most important and effective form of transfer of rural land is inheritance.
 Article 8(5) of Proclamation No. 456/2005 states that any holder shall have the right to transfer his
rural land use right through inheritance to members of his family and by doing so has ensured
the benefits of the heirs properly.
 However, a family member has been restricted by definition under the law as a member who is living
with the farmer sharing his livelihood.
 As against the provisions of the Civil Code of Ethiopia,
 which makes descendants the first legitimate heirs, and in their absence, the right goes to
ascendants of the deceased and so on.
 A family member is defined under this proclamation as having nothing to do with blood relation but the
fact that one is living with the deceased having been sharing his livelihood.
 Accordingly, the regional laws have taken the position and declared that residence is a requirement to
get access to land via inheritance or any other means.
49
 Transfer
 The other condition is that the heir must have been sharing livelihood at the time of the death of
the use rights holders, and hence,
 if the heir is having his own land or is engaged in some other livelihood, the inheritance rights is
unavailable.
 The limitation will have devastating effect especially to women who are often married off to other
locality.
 Consequently, the limitation on who inherits the use rights destroys the family cohesion and
family values thereby destroying the incentive of heirs to look after their aging parents.
 This limitation also can have an effect on the incentive of farmers to develop the land.

Debate on the definition of family member of the law and discuss its consequences?

50
 Transfer
 There is also special proviso putting limitation on the rights of the heirs even within the limitation of
the proclamation.
 The size of the land to be transferred must comply with the minimum size-holding requirement of
the regional laws.
 In a situation where there are a number of eligible heirs and the land is not sufficient, the
law has no way out.
 The fact creates rift among the potential heirs and a problem to the administration as well.
 It may overflow the courts with such cases and is doing the same already.
 Besides lease and inheritance,
 the law seems to encourage exchange of rural land among farmers if they choose so
after having registered the same fact with the competent authority.
 This is an important provision, which gives farmers a certain degree of freedom of movement.
 The right would be of special importance for women who have use rights and want to move about
51 owing to marriage or other factors.
 Transfer
 No inheritance right for heirs who has another source of livelihood
 However, the requirement of ‘having another livelihood’ is open to interpretation and abuse.
 The law in terms of settlement and villagization program has also hinted land consolation.
 Land consolation if the restriction in the law is to be lifted and is to be encouraged in a way that deals
with the problem of the existing land fragmentation;
 it could be one leap forward to the right direction.
 However, the law seems to conceive the idea in terms of settlement and villagization program to be
undertaken at the request and participation of the community.
 Land consolation rights supplemented by credit facilities can encourage development that can be
brought about by the locals,
 which can tremendously empower them economically as well.

52
Discussion Queries

How do you assess the limitation on transfer of land rights?

What do you think is the impact of having land certificate without strong
implication for land market?

Do you think the land transfer rules need relaxation or perhaps going to more
robust rental market? Or even endorsing private ownership of land?

How do you ass the situation of illegal land transfer (prevalent in the nation) in the
face of prohibitions and limitations of the statute law on transfer?

53
 Duties and Restrictions on the Use of Rural Land
 Rural land use rights have been extended to the holders of the land; however, the use rights are not
without duties and restrictions.
 The duty bearers are the holders of the land with usufruct rights.
 The duties are spelled out by the framework legislation to which details are to be supplemented by the
regional laws.
 One of such duty is that ‘a holder of rural land shall be obliged to use and protect the land.’
 The Amharic version of the same law provides that the holder shall be obliged to “properly use and
protect the land”.
 In fact, the controlling version in case there is conflict between the English and Amharic text is the latter,
and hence the question, what does ‘proper care’ mean?
 The same law provides, “…when the land is damaged, the user shall lose his use right.”
 Therefore, it is very important that one must be in a position to be clear as what amounts to ‘proper use
and protection’ and what is not.
54
 The regional laws must spell out clearly and instruct the users on the proper care and
use criteria.
 The obvious demand of the law in here is that:
 the land must be cared for, and
 the users are obliged to construct terraces where erosion is a threat, plant trees, keep
fertility of the land, and so on.
 Such obligation can better be honored where there is a comprehensive
land use master plan.

55
 Duties and Restrictions
 The other duty :
 The holder also must cooperate with the competent authority to examine the land be
it for measurement and survey or other proper regulations.
 Moreover, the holders cannot obstruct the infrastructure development effort of the government.
 Hence, users have the obligation to allow the construction of irrigation lines and other
infrastructure if they cross their lands.
 It is not provided in here whether compensation rights accompany such an obligation or not;
 one possible line of argument would be to call for the constitutional rule, which makes
compensation a right.
 The user, accordingly, needs to be compensated for the inconveniences and loss caused by the
construction of the infrastructure crossing his or her land.

How do you solve this matter at practical world ?

56
Duty
 The other obligation is the obligation to notify the competent authority when
one abandons at his own will the land use rights.
 The obligation seems to have been prescribed in order to make effective use of the land,
 which could be readily used by the landless people registered with the
competent authority.
 However, the law provides nothing further if one simply fails to comply with
obligation.
 Instead,
 the obligation should have been imposed on lower administrative
echelons;
 to be vigilant for such incidents and
57  report immediately to the competent authority to make use of such abandoned land.
 Duties and Restrictions
 Besides the duties outlined by the law, there are also restrictions provided by the same law.
 However, for the restrictions to apply,
 two conditions must be fulfilled by the competent authority.
 The competent organ must develop a guiding land use master plan and an equitable
water use system.
 The guiding land use plan must be developed having regard to soil type, landform, weather
condition, plant cover, and socioeconomic condition.
 The competent authority must also use a watershed approach.
 The water use system must also be established between the upper and lower watershed
communities.
 Where such systems have been developed and established by the competent authority,
 ensuing limitation on the use rights follows.
 58What are these limitations ??
 Duty
 One of such limitations is:
 In any type of rural land where soil and water conservation works have been undertaken,
 a system of free grazing shall be prohibited and
 a system of cut and carry feeding shall be introduced.
 Thus, having regard to the guide land use plan if conservation works have been undertaken, free
grazing will be prohibited.
 Free grazing has its own contribution for environmental degradation in Ethiopia.
 The prohibition of free grazing though in a narrow scenario in here is a policy, which calls for applause.
 The whole policy direction must be geared towards prohibition of free grazing and move to cut and
feed system.

59
 Duties and Restrictions
 The management of rural land is also to be effected having regard to the
slope of the land.
 Rural land has been divided into three slopes, land slope of which is less than 30%, 31-
60%, and more than 60%.
 The plain land slope of which is less than 30% must be utilized in accordance with the
strategy of water conservation and water harvesting prepared.
 The regional governments shall prepare the detailed strategy.
 As to the land slope of which is between 31-60%, growing crops is allowed on the
condition that terraces are constructed.
 Thus, it is prohibited to till land which has the indicated slope without putting in place
terraces.
 The competent authority must ensure that such rule is respected.
60


Duty
 The land slope of which is more than 60% can only be used for growing trees
and perennial plants and forage production.
 Consequently, the land shall not be used for growing crops or generally for farming and
free grazing.
 The strict application of this rule has the potential to prevent the environment from
further degradation and encourages forest conservation and rehabilitation.
 The fact on the ground, however, is that whenever one faces land shortage,
she or he goes to the hills, clears the forest cover, and tries to plant some
crops which are not suitable for the slope and exacerbate soil erosion.
 *Debate?

61
 Duties and Restrictions
 The other requirement on use rights is that land which is of any slope if highly
degraded can be closed from human and animal interference.
 The land can be closed for the period, which enables the land to recover fully.
 Once the land has rehabilitated and is so ascertained by the competent authority, it can
be put back in use.
 The users of such land that has been closed for rehabilitation would be given a
substitute unless they have caused the degradation.
 Thus,
 this requirement must be taken seriously when preparing the guiding
land use master plan.

62
 The other requirement is the obligation to rehabilitate land, which has
gullies.
 The duty could be imposed on the private land user where such gully happens to be on
his land or her land.
 The rehabilitation could also be done by neighboring land users together where the
gully or gullies happened to involve them partly or fully.
 Alternatively, the community could rehabilitate such gully where the communal land is
affected by such phenomenon.

63
Conclusion
 Therefore, the whole idea of the limitations and duties provided in here is to conserve
the land and suitably use it.
 The law also anticipated the enactment of sustainable land use strategy,
 which even could enable to conserve the wetlands.
 Whether it be plain land, sloppy land, or hills and mountains,
 the guiding land use master plan is to prescribe the proper use of the land held:
 privately, by the community and by the government.
 The plan and the strategy must enable sustainable land use, and
 its prompt development can spare lots of calamity from happening.

64
Administration and Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

 The administration of land and land system in Ethiopia is not left to a specialized
organization;
 instead, the two tiers of government via their respective ministry and bureau discharge
the functions of administration.
 Accordingly, at the level of the federal government,
 the ministry of agriculture and natural resource Via LAUD is entrusted,
 to provide the necessary professional support and
 is entrusted to coordinate the competent authorities at the regional level.
 The ministry shall base on the monitoring and evaluation it does and can
develop overall policy ideas and the amendment of the existing policy, as
necessary.
65
 Administration
 On the other hand,
 each region via their council shall enact rural land administration and land use law,
 which in effect must detail the framework legislation of the federal law.
 The regions must also establish institutions,
 which at all levels, shall implement the rural land administration and land use
system and
 shall strengthen the institutions already in place.
 The framework legislation is to be detailed and implemented by the regional government’s
own law to be enacted via their respective councils.
 There are nine regional states in Ethiopia, and
 each of them is supposed to enact the rural land administration and land use laws suitable to
their region without violating the framework legislation.
66
 Dispute Resolution
 The issue of dispute resolution is also dealt within the framework legislation.
 The law reads:
 Where dispute arises over rural landholding right, effort shall be made to resolve the
dispute through discussion and agreement of the concerned party.
 Where the dispute could not be resolved through agreement;
 it shall be decided by an arbitral body to be elected by the parties or be decided in accordance
with the rural land administration laws of the regions.
 The clear preference of the framework legislation is to resolve any dispute amicably
regarding rural lands;
 however, where such effort is in vain, the parties have to elect an arbitral body or choose the
solution provided by the regional laws.
 The regional laws might opt for the social courts to resolve the dispute or give the jurisdiction to
the regular courts.
67
 Summery
 Transfer of land rights is prohibited,
 Yet, limited rights to lease, inheritance, & gift :
 Leasing/renting requirements are:
 Holding certificate
 No eviction requirements: In a manner that does not displace the holder
 Minimum Holding Size
 Residency
 Consent: all who benefit from the land must consent
 Registration of the contract
 Inheritance is possible only to persons who live & shares livelihood from the land- not often blood
tie
 Donation in a manner that does not displace again!
 Hence, it is argues the limitations destroy the right
 But, urban land is exception- totally under lease
68
 Summery

Land Laws of the regional ONRS ANRS SNNPRS TNRS

gov’ts
Transfer Rights

Objective of the Law Social Equity and SD Social Equity and SD Social Equity and SD Social Equity and SD

Access to Land -
Grant Government Government Government Government

Inheritance Blood tie/family Sharing livelihoods Sharing/livelihood Blood tie/family

Landholders
Donation Landholders Landholders Landholders
5 years/ 20 years
Lease (2 types) + mortgage 5 years/20 years 25 years for both 3 years/20 years

Registration Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory

Minimum Holding (MH) size 0.5 hectare MH Size 0.5 hectare MH Size 0.5 hectare MH Size 0.5 hectare MH Size
for leasing
69
 Summery_ questions

 The law prohibits transfer of land rights, yet

 High land transaction in irrigable land, pre-urban areas, and cash crop areas
 Disguised land sell via the cover of donation and inheritance or loan contracts
 Illegal Lease : for terms beyond the legal permit some extending to 99 years
 Massive corruption following illegal land deals
 Thus, it is argued here that the statute law is less effective or not effective
 Law failing at practice is no law
 Confirming failure in the land policy

So, what is the point of these prohibitions and limitations? Should it be

70 removed? debate and discuss!
Urban land regime and lease

Urban Land:
 During the imperial regime urban land was private property
 Derg proclamation had nationalized all urban land and extra-houses
 Currently urban land is under lease system
 Access to land is via grant, auction or permit
 New lease law in 2011
 It prohibited transfer of bare land & unfinished constructions
 Merits of the former laws are questioned:
 As more restrictions are introduced

71
 Urban Land Laws in Ethiopia
 During the imperial era, urban land was privately owned, and hence,
 if one wants to use an urban land without owning it,
 she or he needs to lease it from the property owner.
 Often, it was the case that foreigners used to lease urban land from the proprietors.
 Richard Pankhurst while writing on this line confirmed that
 “the development of Addis Ababa in the first decade of the twenty century was such
that land values rose steadily.”
 This confirms that land was owned by individuals who leased out the service to whosoever wants to
make use of it.
 Before the revolution, few property owners owned urban houses and others had rented the dwelling
house or other buildings or land from proprietors.

72
 Urban land
 One of the grievances of the people especially in Addis Ababa had been the arbitrary rent price hike
and evictions at the will of the renters.
 Accordingly, the revolution and the consecutive measures had destroyed private property,
 (especially private ownership in land) in the urban areas.
 All extra houses had been nationalized in 1975.
 Hence, the property owner remained in his or her personal house, and all the extra houses or buildings
for rent had been nationalized.
 The Derg government was attacking the economic base of the royal family and its adherents.
 All industries, hotels, and big buildings were nationalized along with the rural land they have occupied
in bulk.
 To build public support for nationalization, the new military rulers disclosed figures
revealing the extent to which private urban land ownership had become concentrated
in the hands of few in Ethiopia.
73  Figures:
 Urban land
 For instance, on 25 July 1975, the Ethiopian Herald published statistics culled from incomplete
municipal records revealing that:
 seven members of Haile Selassie’s family owned eight million square meters of land in
Addis Ababa,
 while the heirs of a powerful aristocrat claimed 12 million square meters in the Entoto
andYeka zones of the city.
 Ten former government officials jointly owned 3.8 million square meters.
 The revolutionary government felt obliged to change the scenario given rural land has been
expropriated.
 The extra houses and the extensive land the royalties and their adherents were possessing in urban
setting were doomed to be dealt seriously.
 Accordingly, Derg formally announced a proclamation called a Proclamation to Provide
for Government Ownership of Urban Land and Extra Urban Houses No. 47/1975.
74
 Urban land
 The central objective of this proclamation can be collected from its preamble,
which stated the following:
 In order to bridge the wide gap in the standard of living of urban
dwellers by appropriate allocation of disproportionately held wealth and
income as well as the inequitable provision of services among urban
dwellers and to eliminate the exploitation of the many by the few.
 This was the central objective and what had been put in practice subsequently.
 Hence, Article 13(1) of this proclamation had nationalized all extra houses in
any municipality owned by the royalty or their adherence or anyone for that matter.
 However, persons with many houses had been allowed to retain a house of their choice
but only one at one specific municipality in the county.
75
Urban land
 All urban dwellers were allowed to own one house in any municipality in Ethiopia.
 Any individual was allowed to own 500-meter square land in any one municipality.
 Nevertheless, free transfer of the same was prohibited.
 Sale, mortgaging, antichrists, succession, or otherwise was strictly
prohibited,
 except the right to pass the property on inheritance to one’s spouse or
children.

76
 Urban land
 Private-house owners and other organizations were prohibited to rent houses or buildings.
 Government building of the imperial regime was classified as ‘enemy property’ and was nationalized
immediately.
 However, the law allowed the compensation of private houses that have been nationalized; yet no
compensations had been received in practice.
 The proclamation had shocked the economic bases of the individuals owning urban houses, and urban
development had been destroyed along with.
 The law has sent a wave of shock for urban people to construct or invest in housing.
 Cities were on hold of development for the whole duration of the regime of the military government.
 Major cities like Addis Ababa have remained until recently a shabby and dirty city all the way with illegal
squatting becoming the mainstay.
 It has been very difficult for the city municipalities right now to plan and put it in urban style, and
perspectives still entangled in massive corruption.
77
 Lease System
 The first lease proclamation in Ethiopia came around before the promulgation of the FDRE Constitution,
 which made all land in the nation the property of the government.
 The first lease proclamation was proclaimed in 1993 during the era of the transition government two years
ahead of the constitution,
 which raised matters for concern even on its constitutionality after the coming into picture of the
constitution.
 However, the 1993 lease proclamation was re-enacted and proclaimed again in 2002, which is amended
again in 2011.
 What are the salient features of the laws of lease in Ethiopia?
 The first lease proclamation was enacted in 1993 shortly after the coming to power of EPRDF.
 The purpose of the proclamation can be collected from the preamble of the law.

78
 lease
 The law of lease was aiming at alleviating dwelling house problems by creating source of
revenue for financing the supply of dwelling house.
 Collecting money via lease was supposed to be one of the biggest hopes to generate revenue for
development of the cities.
 It was also in the purpose of the lease proclamation to create market and value for urban land ,
 as per the declaration of free market policy of the government in contrast to its
socialist predecessor.
 Nor only that the lease law was supposed to create value for urban land but also aimed at destroying
the permit system of land acquisition,
 which was in place inherently exposed to corrupt practices.
 Hence, the land was to be given under lease system in open tender.
 The lease proclamation created double land system by leaving intact permit system before the
enactment of the lease law.

79 Hence, it has created parallel systems of urban landholding.
Urban land
 The other grand aim of the law was:
 to encourage investors to venture to the business of developing urban
land by giving them secured tenure under the lease system.
 The lease proclamation never defined what lease means but went on governing the
takeover and the existing land system in place.
 All holdings prior to the enactment of the lease proclamation are to remain as it were:
 except that transferring a dwelling house to another person in any manner other
than inheritance results in the creation of lease system.
 The new transferee shall acquire the house under lease.
 Hence, new acquisition of urban land is possible under the lease system via auction,
negotiation, or lot.
80
 Urban land
 The lease system created under the 1993 law grants the right to get title documents of
lease, which contains the detailed address of the lessee.
 Naturally, the land is to be acquired via tendering, and the highest bidder gets the land.
 The lease right is renewable at the expiry of the lease duration specified by the law.
 It is to be noted here that the law specifies different lease durations for land meant for
different purposes,
 the longest being the duration fixed for dwelling house, 99 years.
 It is mandatory that the land has to be utilized for the agreed purpose, and transfer of
the lease right must not also result in change of the purpose.

81
 Urban land
 Transfer of the land rights under lease was made possible; however,
 the lessee may not on transfer of his right of lease collect income which is higher than the rent of land
he paid nor may he mortgage such right at a value,
 which is higher than the rent.
 The purpose of such restriction might have been to deter urban land speculators.
 Such restriction on transfer, however, undermines the land market and the notion of free market
policy the government vows to pursue.
 The 1993 lease proclamation was repealed and replaced by the 2002 lease proclamation,
 which formally was called ‘Re-enactment of Urban Lands Lease Holding Proclamation No.
272/2002,’
 The law has similar objectives with the prior lease proclamation as stated in the preamble;
 one of the prime objectives of the re-enacted lease proclamation is to transfer urban land by lease for
a fair price consistent with the principle of free market and
82  to make leasehold an exclusive urban landholding system.
 Urban land
 Moreover, it has cleared the constitutionality issue of the prior lease proclamation which
was enacted before the constitution itself, and
 now it is affirmed in the preamble of the re-enacted lease proclamation that it is so
done in accordance with the FDRE Constitution,
 which declares land to be the property of the state and the people.
 The law unlike its predecessor begins by defining lease as leasehold system in which use
right of urban land is transferred or held contractually.
 What is leasehold system?
 Taking as it is with all its obscurity and ambiguity of ‘leasehold system,’ the use right of
urban land via this lease system is transferred contractually.

83
 Urban land
 Hence,
 lease is a contract whereby the use right of urban land is transferred from the
government to the lessee via agreement.
 The contract is to be signed after one has acquired the land via leasehold permit.
 As per the law, there are three modalities of acquiring lease permit:
 in conformity with the plan guideline or the law of cities/government,
 through auction or negotiation, and/or
 through the decision of the region or city government, which is an administrative
grant.
 As to the price of the lease, auction gives the land to the highest bidder, and in case of
lot and grant, the competent body determines the amount.
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 Moreover, leasehold title shall be conferred upon the lessee signing a lease contract.
 Once the lease contract is signed and a person is conferred with the leasehold title, the
lessee has multifold rights.
 Under Article 13 of the re-enacted lease proclamation,
 the lessee is conferred with the right to transfer or undertake a surety or
 s/he may also use the land as a capital contribution to the extent of the
lease payment s/he made.

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 Urban land-restrictions
 It was this positive gesture of the law that has contributed to both official and underground
boom of urban land market.
 Urban land under the guise of selling the property fixed on it has been sold manifold of the price of
initial lease price.
 However, only urban land speculators and corrupt officials of the government are the top beneficiaries
to the determent of the mass and the nation.
 The only restriction on transfer of lease possession right was the obligation to use it for
the original prescribed .
 The only restriction on transfer of lease possession right was the obligation to use it for the original
prescribed purpose.
 The obligation is in line with different lease durations meant to govern urban land for the construction
or other developments.
 The longest duration, which is 99 years, is given for the construction of dwelling house.
 Hence, the law has relaxed many of the restrictions put in place by its predecessor.
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 Urban land- termination
 On the other hand, the termination of lease contact results from three different circumstances:
 where the lessee uses the land for the purpose other than the one indicated in the lease
contract;
 where it is decided to use the land for public purposes; and
 upon the expiry of the lease period without renewal.
 The ground relating to ‘public purpose’ for the termination of lease contract is a tricky notion; yet public
purpose is defined under the law as such:
 …Where an appropriate body determines a public interest in conformity with a master plan or development
plan in order to continuously ensure the direct or indirect utility of land for the people, and progressively
enhance urban development.
 Hence, what it takes to determine whether the land is needed for public purpose or not is an administrative
decision, and such decision is not appealable.
 Nonetheless, one who is dispossessed of property for the public purpose has the legal right to be compensated
to the amount assessed as per the government formula.
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Termination

 Another ground for termination of the lease contract is upon the expiry of
the lease period without being renewed.
 Renewal is a right unless the land is needed for public purpose at the expiry
of the lease period.
 Renewal takes place if the lessee has notified its intention of renewing the
contract at least two years before the expiry of the contract.
 The appropriate organ shall determine whether to renew the lease or
terminate such contract.

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 The new leas law-Urban land
 The new lease law enacted in 2011 formally called a Proclamation to Provide for the Lease Holding of
Urban Land No. 271/2011,
 It practically prohibited transfer of bare land, half constructions, or initial constructions.
 The rationale seems to be that since land belongs to the government, no one is to profit from it just by
speculating.
 Accordingly, it is provided in the preamble of the new law that the economic growth being registered
in the nation has exponentially increased the price of land, and hence,
 there is a need for prudent and responsive land management.
 The new lease proclamation is meant to aid the new land management in place.
 The goal of the new proclamation is to come up with responsive, transparent, and well-
functioning administrative system that ensures the rights and obligation of the lesser
and the lessee.

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 Lease
 The new lease proclamation is similar in many aspects to its predecessor in most of its structure and
content.
 However, more restrictions have been included in the recent legislations.
 The law commences by defining lease,
 which has already been done by its predecessor.
 Nonetheless, under Article 4, the new lease proclamation prohibits any other holding
of urban land but lease-holding.
 It prohibits enclosure and use of any other plot of land adjacent to one’s lawful possession as well.
 This prohibition is a response to the recent disclosure of ,
 invasive and scandalous enclosure by real-estate developers on land adjacent to their
lawful possession in Addis Ababa.

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 Urban land
 The most important provision of the law is that aspect which suggested about,
 the informal settlements being regularized based on the urban plan of regions and
urban administrations within four years of the enactment of this law.
 The idea of regularizing informal settlement is to be welcomed at any rate given that ,
 a considerable number of residents at Addis Ababa and other major cities of regions are informal
settlers.
 The conversion and regularization of such settlement would bring order to the cities;
 yet since majority of the residents of these informal settlement are extremely poor,
the lease price must also take into consideration the same fact.
 In fact, there has to be considerable help from the city administration to get the settlement in shape
and align it to the respective cities’ plan.

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Lease
 As far as access to urban land is concerned, it is via lease permit, however,
 that the new law has added some transparency element in here.
 Urban land is to be held by lease through tender and allotment as per the plan
guidelines of cities, if any.
 However, the appropriate bodies before putting the land on tender must ensure that:
 The land is free from legal claims;
 are prepared in conformity with urban plan;
 have access to basic infrastructure;
 are parceled, delineated, assigned with unique parcel identification number; and
 have site plan and other development requirements.

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 Urban land
 Moreover, the tender must fetch appropriate transaction values, which means it has to be carried out in
a competitive market environment.
 Once such tender is prepared, it has to be made accessible to the public.
 Hence, anyone interested can take part in the tendering process by buying bid bonds, the value of
which must not be less than 5% of the land lease benchmark price.
 It is in the purpose of the law that every piece of land has a benchmark lease price against which
tendering takes place, and hence, the highest bidder wins.
 However, the bidding has soared land prices making it even inaccessible for the middle-class society.
 On the other hand,
 request for urban land allotment has to fulfill a number of formalities including ,
 a support letter,
 detailed project plan, and
 evidence showing budget allocated for implementing the project..
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lease
 Allotment of such land can be done for:
 office premises, social service institutions, and places of worship and manufacturing
industries and
 the use of diplomatic mission and used for persons displaced by urban development
plan and
 for project having special national significance
 Once access to the urban land is obtained via tendering or allotment, the next concern is
signing the lease contract.
 The lease contract has to be signed with the appropriate body, which is defined by the
law itself.
 The major changes brought by the new lease proclamation which are in the terms and
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conditions of the contract hitherto were unknown by the preceding lease laws.
.
 Lease
 The lease contract shall include
 “construction start up time, completion time, payment schedule, grace period, rights
and obligations of the parties as well as other appropriate details.”
 The contract shall be followed immediately by a lease-holding certificate, which contains the details
of the lessee
 Among the most controversial obligation in the terms of the contract is the specification of
construction start-up time and completion time.
 The constructions have been divided into small, medium, and large construction, which has different
completion periods of 24, 36, and 48 months, respectively.
 Completing within the prescribed period is an obligation, and failure to do so has devastating
consequences including the taking back of the land. Obviously, one may request for extension of
completion period, which may not exceed one year at any rate.
 The completion time has other hurdles to carry as well.
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 Lease
 The incomplete transfer of constructions results in severe indirect penalties.
 If one is interested to transfer the incomplete construction, all she or he can get is the effected lease
payment plus the value of already executed construction and 5 % of the transfer lease value.
 Hence, 95% of the transfer lease value goes to the city administration or the government.
 The purpose of this cumbersome law is to deter land speculation.
 However, it carries lots of injustice in it as it makes the city administration unduly beneficial and curbs
land market.
 The argument often made by the government is that the land value has appreciated because of the
infrastructure put in place by it,
 not because the lessee has done any developmental work or has increased the value of the land
thereto by his labor or capital

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 Urban land
 However, the land market is often more responsive to the market force of supply and demand than performances
of the government.
 After having contracted the lease, if one waits for two years, there could be substantial changes in the market by
the time gap only, and hence, getting 95% for doing nothing is undeserving on the part of the government.
 Yet, the government can simply claim the land by the operation of the law than arguing on the line of
appreciating price based on its infrastructure development work.
 Moreover, if one is aggrieved by the decision of the government to take back the land or on extensions of time
issues or any related matters, the only place to appeal to is the government administration itself not the regular
courts.
 The appeal from the decision of the administration goes to the appellate tribunal, the decision of which is final.
 Yet, appeal to municipal appellate court or even to regular court is possible when the matter is concerning
compensation. The decision of such court shall be final, as well.
 All in all, the new law is more restrictive than its predecessor and hence comes to defeat the principle of free
market which it aspires to foster at the very outset.
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 Urban Land Transfer: Beyond the Lease System
 The formal law of the nation made lease systems the official transfer of land rights in the urban area.
 As per the command of the law, any urban land is to be transferred via lease system since 1993 when the first
lease proclamation was enacted predating the FDRE Constitution as well.
 Since the enactment of the law, urban land prices have soared compared to the Derg regime where transfer of
urban land is strictly prohibited.
 One must not be in confusion still that urban land is a public property as per the command of the FDRE
Constitution.
 All land whether rural or urban is the property of the public, the government being the custodian.
 However, the informal land transfer is very common and rife.
 The informal land transfer is happening and encouraging illegal settlement especially in
adjoining lands to the cities and major towns.
 Land is often purchased through illegal contracts or through the informal land deal, and houses are constructed.
 Tens of thousands, if not millions, of houses are constructed all over the nations on land acquired outside the
official legal means, called ‘yecherqa bet’ (squatting settlement).
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 Transfer
 In a majority of cases,
 farming lands that are located in pre-urban areas have been acquired by illegal
contracts for settlement purposes hoping that the city or the town in question soon
would expand to it.
 The land transaction has directly dealt with the peasants adjoining cities (pre-urban area).
 More often than not, the deal is a land sale agreement, so it is sale contract.
 However, the purchasers are supposed to be registered at the rural kebelle as a proper landholder once
such registration is done often via corrupt means.
 Then it is all about waiting for the municipalities to expand the city territory.
 Where the land is already within the city or town, the long procedure of legalizing the land shall be
awaited and it often happens as a result of political decisions during the time of elections.
 After the decision to enclose the pre-urban areas to the area of the municipality, the long and
burdensome legalization process may commence.
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 Beyond the Lease System
 Thus, especially where such decisions are about to be taken, massive land deals happen, opening up
room for corruption to people in authority.
 A researcher has outlined the squatting problem in and around Addis Ababa in the following manner:
 High building standards of the legal houses,
 delayed responses and procedural problems of the legal land provision, and
 high housing rents in the city center were identified by respondents as the causes of squatting in the
study area.
 In addition,
 less government control of open spaces,
 the limited capacity of the code enforcement service to control illegal house construction,
 lack of a comprehensive legal response towards the problem of squatting, and
 the practice of land sell by land speculators as a means of making profit are other factors that have
contributed to the emergence and proliferation of squatter settlements.
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 Beyond the Lease System
 Compared to the plot sizes of the legal land provision,
 the plot sizes of the squatter settlements in the study area are large and
 there are undeveloped vacant fenced plots between squatter housing units.
 Thus, land in the area is inefficiently exploited and the situation has greatly contributed to the
unplanned and rapid horizontal expansion of the built-up area of the city.
 Moreover, the land used for such illegal squatting is often acquired from farmers with legal land titles
or holding certificates.
 The land sale and purchase is done by land speculators who are well connected with local government
and know well how to deal with the legal hurdles as well.
 Evidently,
 all such land deals are illegal as per the law of the nation.

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 Beyond lease
 The recent fast growth of cities has fuelled land speculation and many people are engaged in land
transactions.
 They first buy land from farmers in the peripheries of cities. Once this transaction has taken place, the
process towards legalizing and formalization starts with paying land taxes.
 It usually takes many years before a formal application is made for registration.
 Such kinds of illegal transactions are more prone to high transaction costs and fraud (bribing,
misinformation about size of a plot of land, and more than one transaction over a certain piece of land).
 Most cities in developing countries are expanding horizontally, and the population is moving to
unplanned settlements on the peripheries at the expense of agricultural lands and areas of natural
beauty.
 It is the case in Ethiopia as well that cities and towns are expanding at the expense of agricultural land
and the livelihood security of the farmers at the peripheries of cities and towns.

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Urban critics

In Urban Setting:
 Illegal settlements fuels informal land markets,
 land sale by pre-urban area peasants to city people
 Squatting is common because:
 High building standards of the legal houses
 Delayed responses and procedural problems of the legal land provision
 High housing rents in the cities
 Booming informal market land market via speculators
 Corruption legalizes informal land markets
 Thus, the statute law is less effective here too

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Summery remarks

Expropriation Laws:
 Land is the property of government,
 Hence, no compensation for the land per se
 Only developments made over the land or property on the land
 Commensurate payment is the rule
 Expropriation- justified for ‘public purpose’
 Public purpose is loosely defined
 The decision of the authorizes are neither contested nor appealable to court,
 But, the amount of compensation can be contested

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 Summery

 Ethiopia’s Populism Reform of 1975:

 The Lingering ‘Social Equity Thesis’
 The reform achieved egalitarianism in the land access
 Social equity was the driving principle of the reform
 Hence, land use efficiency was undermined
 The reform left an enduring confusion and poverty
 Hence, the need for second reform towards HRs goals

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Conclusion

 Land is publicly owned and this fact gripped the nation with fierce disagreements
 The policy caused the national to remain agrarian and poor society
 Land Governance focuses too much on the highland agrarian societies-85% of the 97 million
inhabitants
 Ignored the pastoral areas-61% of the landmass
 land is the biggest tool for political control & ‘population hoarding’.
 Tenure insecurity, land fragmentation, and massive poverty is emblematic to the nation
 The statute law is at odd with the custom in action
 The land policy undermines human rights and environmental protection projects
 Requires reform towards responsible land governance

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 General discussion queries or Activities

How do you assess the present land governance system?

How sustainable it is ?

What must be done?

How do you see it in light of the court cases presently entertained?

How do you relate your own experiences to the discussion at hand?

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 Assignment
 Each zone (or at regional level) needs to figure out the challenges and opportunities of land
administration and use
 In terms of the law (court cases, violation of rights, conflict etc.), the institutional set up
(administration, human power and inputs) , culture and even politics.
 And, also suggest solution that potentialy be translated into rules and policies in the reform under
study,
 Structure your report in the following order if you wish:
 1. introduction to the zone (one page)
 2. Major challenges
 3. Opportunities
 4. things needing urgent attention (change or improvement)
 5. what can be done, especially by universities and regional government)
 6.conclusion
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