The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

African governments need to reform ownership of land in the countries without looking for foreign assistance, former presidents urged yesterday.

They should do so in a way that supports the continent's development needs, said a joint statement of six former African presidents and two former prime ministers, released at the end of their two-day meeting in Dar es Salaam.

"If land reform is to be successfully implemented, it should be approached to improve productivity and facilitate development," said Mr Karl Auguste Offmann, former president of Mauritius while leading the statement.

His Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Benjamin Mkapa echoed the same sentiments, warning African leaders not be cajoled by propagandas that China is out to grab vast swathes of land in Africa to meet the Asian country's hunger for raw materials and energy.

"Africa needs knowledge... it also needs capital... those saying that Africa should stay away from China are only scaring the continent from diversifying its trade allies so that it (Africa) stays only with its former colonial masters," he said.

Other former presidents who participated at a meeting that was organized by 'The African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC)' at Boston University included Ghana's John Kufour, Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, Cape Verde's Antonio Monteiro and Tanzania's Ali Hassan Mwinyi.

The former prime ministers who took part in the meeting, held at Dar es Salaam's Karimjee Hall included Tanzania's Frederick Sumaye and his Mozambican counterpart, Ms Luisa Diogo.

The leaders highlighted at least eleven issues that current African leaders need to consider when drafting their land reform policies.

According to Mr Offmann, the land reform issue needs to take into consideration a census of both people and land. "The value and use of land must be established," said Mr Offmann.

The reform, he said, should be defined by leveraging political will. This should encompass clarifying the role of politicians, technocrats, researchers and students in the land reform process.

The former leaders also emphasised the need for Africa to undertake the land reform issue by considering the various needs of different countries.

Land reform, they said, should be taken in a way that puts into consideration the capital value of land.

"Ownership must be determined and defined as freehold, leasehold, titled, given right of occupancy, customary or personal or private," said the statement read by Mr Offmann. It noted that such a definition will help to clear a misconception that land is just dirt or the top soil while in fact the term 'Land' encompasses even forest, water and minerals.

In the reform, agenda, former leaders also want the continent to formalise land ownership through a legal property system. The legal system will help to spell out the size of land owned, terms of tenure, reasons for repossession or dispossession, process of land dispute resolution, succession and terms of compensation.

According to former leaders, the land reform agenda should also put into consideration, issues pertaining to infrastructure needs for Africa's growing urban populations.

"The next generation of cities must be planned and developed with formal means to own properties and assign property value," said the statement.

An individual country should also be able to make its own decision on proper land use. This should involve how a particular country defines land use in accordance with its needs and value systems.

There should also be a land use concept. In this aspect, an individual country should consider land use for human beings, animals and livestock and agriculture in both rural and urban areas.

No one should be discriminated basing on gender and disabilities in the land reform process.

"... the pressing imperative is for African leadership to recognise that there is no avoiding the process of land reform... to make it effective, it must be consultative, participatory, interactive, inclusive, consensus building, transparent, gender sensitive, innovative and cost-effective," the statement said in part.

According to former leaders, the land reform agenda is pressed by the impending food security crisis. The crisis, they say, means that Africa will not only have to feed itself in the future but also it will have to feed the world.

Though not part of the former presidents statement, the land reform agenda comes amid reports that an estimated 50million hectares of land - an area more than double the size of the UK - has been acquired in the last few years or is in the process of being negotiated by governments and wealthy investors.

Also in attendance at the Dar es Salaam meeting were over 70 students and faculty representing ten colleges and universities in the United States and Africa.

These took part in the meeting as official observers of the African Presidential Roundtable 2010:

Ambassador Charles Stith, APARC Director and former US ambassador to Tanzania under President Clinton as saying coordinated the meeting.

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