DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN LAND MATTERS

DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN LAND MATTERS, A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON MASS COMMUNICATION

CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Dispute resolution is a mechanism of solving a dispute out of court. “Dispute resolution generally refers to one of several different processes used to resolve disputes between parties, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law, and litigation. It is composed of fields such as: mediation, arbitration, negotiation, reconciliation, fact finding, expert determination, private judging. Some fields require expert opinion for instance in determining scientific and or technical matters. Such fields including but not limited to arbitration among others, and as such have expertise. It’s noted that these methods are cheaper and faster to resolve contrary to court processes.

Although several initiatives and advocacy efforts have been made to address land-related matters in Nigeria, there are still existing challenges prohibiting amicable resolutions to problems in the land sector. In addressing some of these challenges, the National Land Commission’s management role in public land is noted in the 1999 Constitution.

Land matters are indeed a widespread phenomenon, and can occur at any time or place. Both need and greed can equally lead to them, and scarcity and increases in land value can make things worse. Land conflicts especially occur when there is a chance to obtain land for free – no matter if this land is state, common or someone’s private property. Inheritance conflicts and disputes between neighbors are most often about land (and other immobile property). In post-conflict situations or during the early phases of economic transition (e. g. privatization), when regulatory institutions, controls and mechanisms of sanctions are not yet in place, people eagerly grab land if their position allows for it or forfeit land if they are in a weak position. In those countries where land only now and slowly is receiving a material value and increasingly becoming private property (such as all over Africa), people also try to accumulate as much land as possible. During colonial times, dominant European nations tried to occupy all the land outside Europe that seemed useful (fertile or rich in minerals). Today, the powerful are mostly national elites and international (mining) companies. The conflicts though are similar: local people with long-standing de facto rights often held for several generations lose their land to the powerful.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is also important to note that Land disputes related to access, use and control of natural resources are common in all parts of Kenya regardless of the tenure system. These land disputes have far reaching negative effects. Their resolutions in the most effective and efficient way is a critical requirement for sustainable land management and hence economic growth as well as enhancing national unity.

Land conflicts often have extensive negative effects on economic, social, spatial and ecological development. This is especially true in developing countries and countries in transition, where land market institutions are weak, opportunities for economic gain by illegal action are widespread and many poor people lack access to land. Land conflicts can have disastrous effects on individuals as well as on groups and even entire nations. Many conflicts that are perceived to be clashes between different cultures are actually conflicts over land and related natural resources.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN LAND MATTERS, A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON MASS COMMUNICATION