By Mark N. Mengonfia mmenginfia@gmail.com
Finally, the much talked about Land Rights Act has made its way through the Liberian Legislature, providing room for President George Manneh Weah to either sign it into law or veto the document.
The Land Rights Act has been moving through the corridors of the Liberian Legislature from one committee room to another.
But at long last, this document left the Committee Room on Land, Mines, Energy, Natural Resources & Environment and the Committee room of Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petition made it way to the House of Representatives.
For a long time now, Liberia has been bedeviled by confusion over land ownership and allocation, something which often leads to violent conflicts across the country. And proponents of the Act are optimistic that it will go a long way in resolving the many disputes over land.
Members of the House Representatives recently receiving the instrument from the Liberian Senate this time wasted no time
The preamble of the original version of the Act read that “whereas, title to and ownership of all the Land within the Boundaries of Liberia were originally vested in the state”. The amended version states that “whereas, sovereignty over all the Land within the boundaries of the Republic of Liberia were vested in the State after the establishment of the Republic of Liberia”.
Some of the key issues heighted in the Land Right Act were nature of Land Ownership, eligibility to own Land in Liberia, acquisition of private land by adverse possession among others.
The Capitol Building, seat of the Legislature
Article 5 of the Land Rights Act states that “ownership of land does not extend to Mineral resources on or below the surface of the land”.
A clarity from the committee said that the constitution of Liberia indicates that title to all mineral resources on or beneath any land belongs to all Liberians and must be managed by the government on their behalf. This means that the ownership land private and customary land will not own the rights to mineral resources on or beneath, this in the committee thinking would contravene the Liberian constitution.
The original version of the Land Rights Act in Article 8 which speaks of eligibility had it that “In keeping with the Article 22 of the constitution non-citizen missionary, educational, and other benevolent institutions shall have the right to own property so long as such property is used for the purpose acquired.”
The article was amended and the amended version reads as “In keeping with the Article 22 of the constitution non-citizen missionary, educational, and other benevolent institutions shall have the right to own property so long as such property is used for the purpose acquire.
The title to the property shall revert to the original owner(s) of the after a determination is made of the non-use of the property by the Liberian Land Authority”.