Transparency in the Land Authority (LR0033)

• Lessons from Reformers: Liberia Empowers Communities to Make Decisions About Their Own Land (April 1, 2020)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: Land issues have been a critical driver of Liberia’s conflicts and significant issues remain in terms of land ownership, land rights, concessions and land management. Ensuring accountable land management is an essential part of making people in power in Liberia more accountable and transparent. The public is largely not aware of land ownership rights, concession rights orabout land management issues; and equally, the Land Authority is unable to provide information to citizens about these issues in ways they are able to understand. What is the commitment?: The commitment, a continuation from the 2nd NAP, will make information around land ownership and use more open to the public both on and offline. It will also provide a mechanism for citizens to resolve land disputes through the Land Authority.; How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? The commitment will radically improve transparency of land related documents and information, opening up a process of data-driven decision-making around land that will increase the fairness and accountability of projects in the land sector.; Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?: Land rights and information are central to a host of OGP values including transparency, citizen participation and anti-corruption.

7. Improve Transparency in the Land Authority

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"The commitment, a continuation from the 2^nd NAP, will make information around land ownership and use more open to the public both on and offline. It will also provide a mechanism for citizens to resolve land disputes through the Land Authority.

The commitment will radically improve transparency of land related documents and information, opening up a process of data-driven decision-making around land that will increase the fairness and accountability of projects in the land sector."

Milestones:

1. Make publicly available data on land rights (such as data/locations on land legally owned by private citizens or communities) produced by the government on the NBC platform;
2. Make land deeds and certificates available to the public through the Land Authority;
3. Produce hard copies of data collected and developed through the LEITI and SIMS and distribute these hard copies to relevant communities across Liberia as the basis for discussion;
4. Ensure the Land Authority makes information available related to land and resource governance (including policies, laws, guides for how to register property, updates on government activities and details including GPS coordinates of indigenous and community land ownership information) on its website and in hard copies;
5. Create a standing mechanism through which citizens can seek redress for land rights abuses within the Land Authority.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Liberia's action plan at: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/liberia-action-plan-2017-2019/

This commitment aimed to provide crucial and timely information on land distribution and related laws, and provide guidance on how the public can exercise their land rights. It also sought to create a mechanism to expedite citizens' access to justice on land disputes. ^[70] Its overall goal was to improve Liberia's land rights, use, management, and accountability.

At the time of this commitment's formulation, land disputes were increasingly violent, with legal cases burdening the courts. ^[71] In 2017, the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) began operations, and the Land Rights Act (LRA) was under legislative review. ^[72] The Liberian Parliament passed the LRA in September 2018, and it became law in October 2018. ^[73]

The LRA outlaws discrimination in land ownership and equally recognizes private and customary land ownership. ^[74] LLA's implementation was inclusive, as the government sent procedures and guidelines to civil society for critique and input. The act incorporated time-bound mandates, which were prioritized during this implementation period. This commitment is a continuation from commitments in Liberia's previous action plan. Previous Commitments 1.4 and 1.5 resulted in major changes, such as broad public consultations and the creation of an online map for commercial land use and extractive sector revenue. ^[75]

This commitment had substantial completion by the end of the implementation period. ^[76] During implementation, the LLA took over management of the deed registry and, with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, planned to scan and make deeds available online (Milestone 2). Physical copies of land deeds and certificates continued to be held at the Center for National Documents and Records Agency. With the technical and financial support of the World Bank, the LLA also posted online policies, laws, and updates on government activities (Milestone 4). ^[77] This work was done under the Liberia Land Administration Project. ^[78] The project sought to establish a land administration system and support tribal land inventory. ^[79] Beyond the commitment milestones, the LLA simplified deed registration processes, created land survey regulation and surveyor guidelines, and trained 16 new surveyors.

Significantly, the LLA created and implemented an alternative land dispute resolution mechanism (Milestone 5). In 2019, the LLA and Ministry of Justice created the Land Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy and the Legal Aid Policy. These policies equally recognize the legitimacy of formal adjudication and alternative land dispute resolution to resolve land conflicts. There are many forms of alternative land dispute resolution throughout Liberia. Land disputes are often resolved through local customary authorities.

In 2018, the government established the Special Presidential Review Committee to resolve land conflicts between communities and concessions at the highest political level. Dispute resolution was an opt-in system (via a signed memorandum of understanding) with an opportunity for rapid, transparent adjudication based on publicly available data that was also made accessible by the commitment. Cases were usually resolved within the mechanism. The Land Authority is now seeking a legal mandate for binding judgments. ^[80] In December 2019, the United Nations committed to strengthening local land dispute governance and resolution mechanisms, suggesting that Liberia's alternative land dispute resolution tools will continue to be strengthened after the implementation period. ^[81]

Despite progress, this commitment fell short in the implementation of Milestones 1 and 3. Land rights data is not yet publicly available online (Milestone 1). Specifically, guides and GPS coordinates of indigenous and community land ownership information are not available on the LLA website. Data on land rights was not made publicly available on the National Bureau of Concessions' (NBC) platform, ^[82] due to NBC's managerial difficulties. ^[83] Additionally, Liberia did not complete its land inventory. The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) did not produce and distribute hard copies of data from LEITI and SIMS (Milestone 3). These activities were inhibited by the unlawful appointment of the head of the Secretariat at the LEITI and the anticipated consequence of LEITI losing its accreditation. ^[84]

The progress made under this commitment represents major changes to government practice. In particular, the LLA's formal recognition and strengthening of alternative land dispute mechanisms mark a major change regarding the OGP value of public accountability. However, with limited completion of Milestones 1 and 3, this commitment failed to meaningfully change Liberians' access to land information. Therefore, this milestone led to major changes under the OGP value of public accountability but fell short of its aim to improve citizens' access to information.

The IRM recommends that implementers continue to work with international partners to complete commitment activities. The completion of a land deed registry and tribal land inventory would significantly increase citizens' access to land information. Additionally, the LLA should continue to expand citizens' access to dispute resolution mechanisms for land conflict, particularly ensuring equal access among all segments of the population.