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306 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
them when they occur. Municipalities put leasehold land out to tender.
In Addis Ababa, small parcels have been put out to tender, and tender
prices have often greatly exceeded benchmarks (an example quoted
was a bid of Br 6,000 per square meter against a benchmark of Br 200
per square meter for a parcel with little or no infrastructure). The process
is not transparent. The supply shortage is forcing those requiring
land to explore other alternatives.
Rural land administration and land use laws are issued at the federal
and regional levels, while the urban side is covered in the lease laws
issued at federal, regional, and municipal levels. Despite the apparent
decentralization of decision making, the policies and laws are developed
by experts often hidden from the public eye, and the first time
the public hears of a new policy is when it is presented to the legislative
body. Even where consultation has occurred, it is by invitation
only, as was the case with the development of the building code by the
Ministry Urban Development and Construction. Although there is a
trend of consulting the farmers in some rural areas, the academic community
and other nonstate actors are routinely excluded from the
consultation process.
The rural land laws mention orphans and women, and the urban land
lease laws have provisions referring to women and persons who have disabilities
or are physically challenged. However, the provision of land in
urban areas has, to some extent, discriminated based on marital status and
possibly encouraged simulated divorces.
Funding to implement policy is limited, as are monitoring and reporting
on the progress of implementation.
Key policy and legislative issues that create opportunities for corruption
include the following:
• The lack of a strong overarching policy framework, combined with the
poor implementation and oversight of existing policy, creates opportunities
for officials to abuse their authority.
• Limited public consultation in policy formulation leads to very limited
public awareness of policy and public engagement with policy implementation.
This creates a gap between policy and implementation that
can be abused by officials.
• The imposition of subjective limitations on rights in rural areas without
a strong policy framework creates opportunities for discretion by
officials, particularly given the lack of an effective dispute resolution
process.