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300 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
land is allocated and expropriated based on political and other considerations.
Information about land is closely held and not transparent. In rural
areas, people distrust the government, and a key strategy to build community
trust in the regions that have implemented registration programs
is the use of voluntary land administration committees whose members
are elected by the kebele community.
Corruption in the land sector in Ethiopia is frequently reported in the
media and on the Internet. The 2005 election in Ethiopia resulted in a
temporary power vacuum in the city of Addis Ababa. A substantial
amount of land was allocated based on political allegiances. City officials
in Addis Ababa used the transition to conspire with land speculators.
Using records on housing cooperatives that had approval for land allocation
but had not been formed, these officials transformed the 24–36
approved housing cooperatives into about 300 housing cooperatives,
many fictitious, and applied to the municipal courts for legal recognition.
3 These housing cooperatives have been the vehicles for a massive
land grab. It is estimated that about 15,000 forged titles have been issued
in Addis Ababa in the past five years. 4
The land sector has been a considerable focus of FEACC investigations
in recent years. A household survey commissioned by the FEACC
indicated that the customs service is the most corrupt sector, followed
by land allocation, national housing, judges and the court system, and the
tax system. 5 In the 2007/08 FEACC Annual Report, 28 of the 63 cases
investigated during the year were in the land administration and development
sector, and these cases involved about Br 476.5 million of the
Br 2.18 billion in undue advantage or lost revenue during the year. 6
Eleven of the 55 work procedures and practices reviewed by the commission
during the year were in the land sector (eight concerned with
land administration and three concerned with plots of land and construction).
7
A key area where corruption occurs is in the allocation of land. In rural
areas, officials have distorted the definition of “public land” to mean “government
land.” Some officials also define “public purpose” in applying
expropriation, and some commentators are suggesting that this is leading
to landlessness. Some officials have engaged in land grabbing to grant land
to functionaries, which is not in accord with tradition. This is happening
at the woreda level and is being copied by the elected committee members
at kebele level. There are no readily available mechanisms or rules
for accessing rural land, and investors have to apply through the Ethiopian
or regional investment agencies.