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Land Sector Corruption in Ethiopia 309
little if any compensation of secondary rights. Unregistered landholders
typically are allocated the minimum area determined for residential purposes
in compensation cases. However, there are problems in mediumsize
towns, especially in relation to timely compensation and resettlement
issues. If land is expropriated for an investor, the investor is responsible
for compensation, and this is typically paid in a timely manner. In urban
areas, there are mechanisms to provide land for displaced informal
settlers.
The relevant federal laws provide for the establishment of Land
Clearance and Appeal Commissions—quasi-judicial tribunals accountable
to the council at the municipal and regional levels, mainly through
regional laws. One such commission is in Addis Ababa, but there is little
activity in other municipalities and rural areas. The commission in Addis
Ababa has a single location and is hampered by limited staff as well as
jurisdictional disputes with the municipality courts.
In urban centers, most allocation of public land for residential, manufacturing,
commerce, and construction purposes occurs through auctions.
Allocation of rural land routinely occurs on a project basis through applications
or proposals submitted by individual investors. The efficacy of
auctions in ensuring optimum pricing is questionable because there have
been inexplicable fluctuations in auction prices in Addis Ababa.
Little information is publicly available about the allocation of public
land, the amount allocated, the mode of allocation, the parties involved,
or the conditions of allocation.
Key public land management issues that create opportunities for corruption
include the following:
• There is no inventory of public land, which affects the efficient management
of public land and creates opportunities for the illegal allocation
of public land to private parties.
• The process to allocate public land lacks transparency, which creates
opportunities for corruption and the inappropriate allocation of
public land.
Land use planning. In Ethiopia, the Ministry of Agriculture, with assistance
from the Food and Agriculture Organization (of the United
Nations), implemented in the 1980s a significant program to prepare
rural land use plans. However, limited resources were devoted to maintaining
and enforcing these plans. In recent times, there has been little
planning in rural areas except for a recent initiative covering development
corridors and areas around Addis Ababa.