accumulation by land dispossession and labor ... - Land Portal

Moreover, Section 4 (9) of the Act thus provides for this prerequisite for the village land
transfer:
Where the relevant body under subsection (5) has, by resolution, approved the transfer of
the village transfer land or a part of it, the President may exercise his power to transfer
that village land or a part of it to general or reserved land.
Section 4(10) provides for payment of compensation when the rights of the persons in the
village transfer land is compulsorily acquired. However, it also empowers the President
to ―determine whether those persons may continue to occupy and use the land, subject to
any terms and conditions, which he may impose.‖ In relation to the former case Section
4(10) provides that the ―President may direct that any compensation payable under this
section shall be paid by the person or organisation to whom or which the village transfer
land which has been transferred to general land is granted by a right of occupancy.‖
Section 4(12) provides for a presidential enquiry into a proposed transfer under Section
19 of the Land Act Number 4 of 1999 and ―where that inquiry has been appointed, no
further action in accordance with this section shall be taken on that proposed transfer
until after the inquiry has reported.‖ Then Section 4(13) stipulates:
A transfer of village land to general or reserved land shall be notified in the Gazette and
shall come into effect thirty days after the date of the publication of the notice.
Section 4 (14) concludes by subjecting all the provisions of Section 4 to other provisions
in the Acts referred in Section 7 of the Village Land Act. These include the Land Act and
the Local Government (District Authorities) Act. This is why the former provisions are
easily trampled on.
There are two seemingly contrasting ways one may approach these provisions: to critique
how, by their very legal nature, applying them undermines the land rights of villagers and
how, in relation to their progressive elements, misapplying them denies villagers their
land rights. In this briefing paper the main focus is the latter. In regard to the former this
brief critique suffices:
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