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Freetown — Sierra On Monday Leone's parliament passed two laws. Lawyers say these laws will help boost the rights of local landlords and women to oppose land grabbing by large mining and agribusiness companies.
The West African country has a history of sometimes deadly conflicts between local communities and foreign companies that have cleared vast tracts of land for palm oil and sugar cane plantations in recent years. I have.
Locals complain of environmental damage, loss of livelihoods and lack of fair compensation for their land. Under the current system, landowners receive an annual rent of $2.50 per acre as determined by the state.
The Customary Land Rights Act and Land Commissions Act, enacted on Monday, will allow local landowners to negotiate the value of their land with investors without their explicit consent. It gives powers to prevent land from being leased.
Campaigners and locals applauded the move, but one of his palm oil company executives said it meant the end of investment.
"To our knowledge, no legal system in either hemisphere provides such strong rights to affected communities," said the international legal advocacy group Namati. said Eleanor Thompson of
The director of his SOCFIN, Sierra Leone's largest agribusiness company, called it "an NGO's dream."
"Certainly, it would discourage any investment...it makes things very expensive and we all tend to get huge intimidation from different communities," Garben said. Harlingsma added.
The Luxembourg-based company has invested more than $150 million in palm oil farming in Sierra Leone. They also frequently clashed with local landowners.
Homeland Minister Tulad Senesy said the new law would encourage investment by ensuring peace and order.
"This is a win-win situation for both businesses and Sierra Leoneans, including rural landowners," he told Reuters.
He will also abolish a colonial-era provision that forbade the descendants of freed slaves from owning land outside the capital Freetown. (Reporting by Umaru Fofana, Editing by Nellie Peyton and John Stonestreet)
