Customary Land Tenure in Liberia - Land Tenure and Property ...

97
protected from appropriation by concessionaires. However, most feel that they lack the resources to do so.
Others believe that, with profits from rubber cultivation, they will eventually have the means.
And, yet, not all people we interviewed had problems with concessionaries or private investors. In Upper
Workor and Tengia, some clan members felt confident that their land could not be taken away from them by
private investors and, in Upper Workor, people are actually eager for investors to come to their clans, as long
as agreements are made first between clan members and the investors. In Tengia, when asked whether
community members had concerns about outside
investors acquiring land, an elder responded, “No one can
remove us from our land except the government or war.”
In Saykleken, although there were some bad experiences
with concessionaires, clan members also reported good
experiences with some concessionaires and called for the
government to send more to the clan.
8.2.4 Government Claims to Land
The historical precedence of government claiming land held under customary tenure appears to have
impacted communities‟ sense of tenure security. For example, in Mana, Motor Road, Saykleken, Tengia, and
Ding, some clan members expressed fear of government expropriation of land. In these clans, members
expressed concern that the government could take their land, either to give to private companies as
concessions, for government projects, or to develop as national parks. Commonly, clan members reported
that “The land belongs to the government.” Some reported that their power to stop expropriations is weaker
because they do not have deeds to the land.
“We don’t worry when people borrow our land.
We only worry that the government will one day
ask us to leave.”
– Elder from Tengia Clan
“No one can remove us from our land
except the government or war.”
–Elder from Tengia Clan
In Tengia and Upper Workor, some people were
cognizant that government has compulsory acquisition
authority, but since past land acquisitions have been to
acquire land for services that benefit clan members (e.g.,
schools), many are not contemplating expropriations
that are contrary to their own interests. Yet others in the
same clans expressed concern that the government
might someday try to take their land. In Tengia, one Sectional Chief explained that the government could take
their land because “We don‟t have a deed.” Some members of Upper Workor Clan believe that a deed would
help them have more bargaining power, especially if the government found minerals in the clan. Indeed, one
means of gauging clan members‟ sense of insecurity over land is by how often they expressed the importance
of surveying and documenting their land rights.
The predicted redevelopment of the Tubman Military Academy (TMA) land has fueled a sense of tenure
insecurity in Ding Clan. If the full 10,000 acres held under the TMA claim are developed, citizens residing on
the land would be evicted and would lose their crop and life tree investments. Moreover, given the extent of
TMA land that is also covered by either a deed or TC, infringement on people‟s rights could further erode
people‟s faith in the legitimacy of statutory documentation of land rights. This is already increasing
perceptions of tenure insecurity among clan members who, in some cases, have been blocked from
harvesting their crops.
In Nitrian Community, the creation of the Nitrian Community Forest has resulted in both tenure security and
insecurity. While some community members believe that if they conserve the forest, the government will not
take it, others expressed fear that, despite their conservation efforts, the government could still expropriate
the forest. Though community members believe that they have a deed to the entire community and therefore
own the land, they were also told that the land and minerals belong to the government. Thus, many
community members iterated the importance of surveying and documenting their rights to the forest to
prevent expropriation. It is possible that tenure insecurity could have a negative effect on forest conservation.
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA