Legislative Protection of Property Rights in Ethiopia: An Overview

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Abstract. Amhara regional state of Ethiopia is one of the pioneer regional states in the country to design and to implement progressive land administration systems. Unlike most similar undertakings, the accomplishments of the Amhara land administration system are satisfactory. The strong public support is one of the key features in the Amhara land administration system. The current study focuses on describing both formal and informal settings for better understanding and for generating lessons. The Core Cadastral Domain Model is an initiative to enhance international understanding and to exchange cadastral information. Necessary modifications are applied for easier description of formal as well as informal settings in the Amhara region. The formalization process considers the needs of the landholders as well as existing tradition of the informal setting. The study identifies more similarities than differences between the current formal system and the Irist system, which was the dominant informal tenure system before the introduction of the formal system. The study underlines the importance of considering the existing informal tenure system during introduction of new formal land administration systems in Africa. Key words and terms. Legal cadastral domain model, informal setting, formal setting, land administration system, Amhara region, Ethiopia, property rights

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African Review of Economics and Finance

All land in Ethiopia is owned by the state and granted to the people with holding right, and the land-holding arrangement is dichotomised into rural and urban systems. In-between urban and rural spaces, there is a transitional peri-urban agricultural area on which growing urbanisation has been exerting unprecedented pressure. Thus, this study mainly aims to examine and highlight the challenges and pressures imposed on the land rights of local peri-urban landholders, as a result of the growing demand for land due to urbanisation. To achieve the purpose of the study, both the desk review research approach and an analysis of previous survey research results are employed. Existing contemporary literature and theories on property rights, and current laws and policies focusing on land rights in Ethiopia are reviewed in detail. Finally, evidence shows that the new recipients of land from periurban areas, through the urban land lease system, are provided and can enjoy better and thicker bundles of land rights than the indigenous, local, peri-urban landholders in the process of urban development.

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Journal of land and rural studies

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– Land had been controlled by the elite (kings and their trusted group) in Ethiopia. Private ownership of land had never been known except for some historical incidents. The Ethiopian people had been struggling for centuries with the inequitable land holdings of the country and effectively removed the feudal system in 1975. The following regime (Derg) that came to power in 1975 under the slogan " Land to The Tiller " paradoxically dissatisfied the slogan and ended up in owning the land itself (state ownership?) rather than giving it to the people. The existing government, which controlled power in 1991, was expected to cure the age old land rights ills, among others by giving land to the people in tenure. Rather, it maintained the Derg's state ownership of land and controls all urban and rural land as well as natural resources. Even though it is the state which controls land ownership, rural peasants and pastoralists are guaranteed with lifetime " holding " right that gives all rights except sale and mortgage. Although it is not mentioned in the constitution, urban residents are also provided with the right to get land for residence on a 99 years lease based agreement. The state ownership of land in contemporary Ethiopia is far from ideal since it restricts the different land rights of use, rent, lease, endowment, and inheritance for different reasons. Since redistribution of land is highly restricted, access to rural land is also almost nonexistent. The constitution is commended for its protection of land holdings against arbitrary state eviction by inserting a provision that gives " commensurate " amount of compensation during expropriation. However, successive implementing proclamations have violated this protection by denying market value (fair compensation) for loss of property. In short, the amount of compensation in the event of expropriation is insufficient. By creating more access to rural land, liberating the land holding rights, and by compensating fairly the loss of properties during expropriation, the current government could give more secure land rights compared to its predecessors.

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